Reducing Antibiotic Overuse: A Call for a National Performance Measure for Not Treating Asymptomatic Bacteriuria
Open Access
- 15 November 2007
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Clinical Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 45 (10), 1335-1337
- https://doi.org/10.1086/522183
Abstract
Positive urinary tract culture results often represent asymptomatic bacteriuria, which does not need to be treated with antimicrobial agents. Avoiding treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria in adults should reduce the risk of development of antibiotic resistance and is consistent with the Infectious Diseases Society of America and US Preventive Services Task Force guidelines on bacteriuria. A similar approach for not treating upper respiratory illnesses with antibiotics was initiated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We propose that a hospital and ambulatory performance measure should be developed for not treating asymptomatic bacteriuria in adults. In addition, such an effort would aid hospitals in confronting the proposal of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (to be implemented in 2009) to not pay the expenses associated with catheter-associated urinary tract infection.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Incidence and risk factors associated with urinary tract infection in diabetic patients with and without asymptomatic bacteriuriaEuropean Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, 2006
- Asymptomatic bacteriuria as a predictor of subsequent hospitalisation with urinary tract infection in diabetic adults: The Fremantle Diabetes StudyDiabetologia, 2005
- Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria in AdultsClinical Infectious Diseases, 2005
- Antimicrobial Treatment in Diabetic Women with Asymptomatic BacteriuriaNew England Journal of Medicine, 2002
- Does Asymptomatic Bacteriuria Predict Mortality and Does Antimicrobial Treatment Reduce Mortality in Elderly Ambulatory Women?Annals of Internal Medicine, 1994
- How Long Should Catheter-Acquired Urinary Tract Infection in Women Be Treated?Annals of Internal Medicine, 1991
- Prospective randomized comparison of therapy and no therapy for asymptomatic bacteriuria in institutionalized elderly womenAmerican Journal Of Medicine, 1987
- Bacteriuria in Elderly Institutionalized MenNew England Journal of Medicine, 1983
- Deaths from nosocomial infections: Experience in a university hospital and a community hospitalAmerican Journal Of Medicine, 1980
- Factors Predisposing to Bacteriuria during Indwelling Urethral CatheterizationNew England Journal of Medicine, 1974