📃 Paper Title: Duration of antibacterial treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infection in women
🧍 Author: Gai Milo
🕒 Year: 2005
📚 Journal: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
🌎 Country: Israel
ㅤContext to the study:
Can you tell me about a systematic review paper that assessed the optimal duration of antibacterial treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women?
ㅤ✅ Take-home message of study:
3-days antibiotic therapy was adequate in providing symptomatic relief for most women with uncomplicated urinary tract infections
Longer therapeutic duration is linked to increased risk of adverse events
Longer therapeutic duration offers benefit in eliminating bacteria from patient's urine and hence should still be considered for women where recurrence prevention is the priority
ㅤ Systematic Review
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Study participants:
Study size:
A total of 9605 patients from thirty-two trials
Inclusion criteria:
Female 16-65 years old
Non-pregnant
No signs of upper UTI
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Key study outcomes:
Symptomatic failure rates
Short term (2-15 days post-treatment):
No difference between 3-day and 5-10 day antibiotic regimen
Long term (4-10 weeks post-treatment)
No difference between 3-day and 5-10 day antibiotic regimen
Bacteriological failure (positive post-treatment urine cultures):
Short term (2-15 days post-treatment):
No difference between 3-day & 5-10 day regimen under random effects model (p=0.08)
5-10 day superior to 3 day regimen when using fixed effect model (p=0.05)
Long-term: 5-10 day antibiotic regimen is superior to 3-day regimen (p=0.006)
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Study Limitations:
Several of the included studies had male subjects in their study cohort
High dropout rates rate in many included studies
Limited microbiological data to draw conclusions on the appropriateness of the antibiotic regimen given for specific bacterial strains
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