A Statistical Approach for Determination of Disk Diffusion-Based Cutoff Values for Systematic Characterization of Wild-Type and Non-Wild-Type Bacterial Populations in Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
In this study, we introduce a new approach for determination of epidemiologic cutoffs (ECOFFs) and resistant-population cutoffs (RCOFFs) based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. As an example, the method was applied for determination of ECOFFs for seven different beta-lactam antibiotics and wild-type populations ofEscherichia coli,Klebsiella pneumoniae, andEnterobacter cloacae. In addition, RCOFFs were determined for bacterial populations with defined resistance mechanisms (“resistotypes”), i.e., extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-positiveE. coli, ESBL-positiveK. pneumoniae, and ESBL-positiveE. cloacae; AmpC cephalosporinase-positiveE. coliand AmpC-positiveK. pneumoniae; and broad-spectrum beta-lactamase (BSBL)-positiveE. coli. RCOFFs and ECOFFs are instrumental for a systematic characterization of associations between resistotypes and wild-type populations.