A 2011 WHO report found that UTIs contributed to more than 8 million office visits and more than 1 million hospitalizations, for a total annual cost of more than $ 1 billion.
Now, a new study has found that doctors gave the wrong antibiotics to nearly half of the 670,400 people diagnosed with a UTI. In addition, more than three-quarters of the women received antibiotic prescriptions for longer than medically necessary. According to the study published Wednesday in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, long treatment times – which exceed clinical guidelines – are more prevalent in rural than urban areas.
“Unsuitable antibiotic prescriptions for uncomplicated urinary tract infections are common and have serious consequences at the patient and community level,” said lead author Anne Mobley Butler, an assistant professor of medicine and surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Louis, said. a statement.
“Accumulating evidence suggests that patients have better outcomes if we change prescriptions from broad-spectrum to narrow-spectrum antibiotics and from longer to shorter duration,” Butler said.
“Promoting optimal antimicrobial use benefits the patient and society through avoidable side effects, microbiome disruption and antibiotic-resistant infections,” she added.
Analysis of insurance data
Researchers analyzed insurance claims for women between the ages of 18 and 44 who were diagnosed with a common form of urinary tract infection between April 2011 and June 2015.
Antibiotic prescriptions given to the women were compared with current clinical guidelines. According to the researchers, 47% of the prescriptions were written for antibiotics that did not meet medical recommendations. The study found that women living in rural areas would take the antibiotics for an “inappropriately long duration of treatment as urban patients,” the study found, although 76% of all women in the study used antibiotics for too long has.
The study said that rural doctors may not be as aware of current antibiotic treatment guidelines, or that they have given patients more antibiotics because of the distance needed to travel to and from the clinic than the symptoms persist.
Symptoms and causes
Urinary tract infections can occur in men and women of any age, but are more common in women and girls, who have shorter urethra that is closer to the rectum, making it easier for bacteria to infect the urinary tract.
Other risk factors include a history of UTIs, menopause, pregnancy, the use of spermicides that can alter vaginal bacteria, and an enlarged prostate.
Age is also a factor – many children get UTIs during potty training because they do not know which direction to wipe – while elderly people are at high risk because they have more trouble emptying their bladder as they get older.
Symptoms of UTIs include frequent urination that is painful or burns, bloody urine, low stomach cramps and the need to urinate even after you are just gone.
A kidney infection is another type of UTI, which can be more serious if left untreated. Symptoms include fever, chills, nausea or vomiting and low back pain.
Symptoms of a UTI can mimic those of many sexually transmitted diseases, so a urine test may be needed to identify the cause. Because UTIs are caused by bacteria, they are treated with antibiotics.
What to do
The CDC says that you can prevent urinary tract infections by drinking plenty of water and peeing regularly, showering, instead of bathing, restricting the use of showers, sprays or powders in the vaginal area and making sure you urinate after every sexual activity.
Young girls need to be taught to wipe from front to back during potty training.