Data collection
Baseline demographic data (i.e. date of birth, age, weight, height, body
mass index (BMI), body surface area (BSA), cystic fibrosis transmembrane
conductance regulator (CFTR) mutation type), APE data (i.e. date of
hospital admission, diagnosis, severity, per cent predicted forced
expiratory volume in one second (ppFEV1), microbial
reports, white blood cell count and c-reactive protein count) and
antibiotic data (i.e. tobramycin treatment duration, dose, plasma levels
of tobramycin and concomitant antibiotic treatment) were collected. Data
regarding outcomes included APE recurrence, hospital length of stay,
increased levels of creatinine and bacteremia duration. Severity of the
APE was assessed using the Matouk Score (10), a modified version of the
Huang score, because of its systematic use at our center. All data was
collected by manual review of the local electronic database.