Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is a significant cause of nosocomial infections, and increasing antimicrobial resistance complicates management. OBJECTIVES: To characterize antimicrobial susceptibility trends, we conducted a retrospective study of PA clinical isolates over 10 years (2013-2022) at a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: A total of 2,490 PA isolates were analyzed (1,452 from general wards and 1,038 from ICUs). Carbapenem resistance was observed in 40% of isolates; 37.5% were multidrug-resistant (MDR), 5.3% were extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and 3.5% met the criteria for difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR). CONCLUSION: This study provides an overview of PA resistance pattern trends in Saudi Arabia and emphasizes the importance of establishing an antimicrobial stewardship program.