Antibiotic consumption and time to recovery from uncomplicated urinary tract infection: secondary analysis of observational data from a point-of-care test trial

[摘要] Background Randomised trials provide high-quality evidence on the effects of prescribing antibiotics for urinary tract infection (UTI) but may not reflect the effects in those who consume antibiotics. Moreover, they mostly compare different antibiotic types or regimens but rarely include a ‘no antibiotic’ group.Aim To estimate the effect of antibiotic consumption, rather than prescription, on time to recovery in females with uncomplicated UTI.Design and setting Secondary analysis of 14-day observational data from a point-of-care test trial for UTI in primary care in England, the Netherlands, Spain, and Wales, which ran from 2012 to 2014. Clinicians treated patients using their own judgement, providing immediate, delayed, or no antibiotic.Method3 standardised antibiotic days. To account for confounders, a robust propensity score matching analysis was conducted. Adjusted Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazard models were employed to estimate time to recovery and hazard ratios, respectively.Results A total of n = 333 females who consumed antibiotics and n3 standardised antibiotic days (7 days, 95% CI = 6 to 9).Conclusion Consuming antibiotics was associated with a reduction in self-reported time to recovery, but more antibiotics exposure was not associated with faster recovery in this study.

[学科分类] 卫生学

[关键词] anti-bacterial agents;antibiotic consumption;general practice;recovery without antibiotics;uncomplicated;urinary tract infections