Systematic Review of Vancomycin Population Pharmacokinetic Models in Critically Ill Patients: A Focus on Model Characteristics and External Predictive Performance

Objective

Several population pharmacokinetic (PopPK) studies of vancomycin in intensive care unit (ICU) patients have been reported. However, substantial heterogeneity exists across these studies, and their predictive performance remains uncertain owing to a lack of external validation. This study systematically reviews published PopPK models of vancomycin in critically ill patients and externally validated selected models using real-world data, with the aim of clarifying factors contributing to variability in vancomycin pharmacokinetic parameters and identifying knowledge gaps that require further investigation.