Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39629893›Full record

ArticleNeurourology and urodynamics2025

Antibiotic Overprescription for "Urinary Tract Infections" Is Associated With Poor Diagnostic Stewardship and Low Adherence to Guidelines.

Kristen Murray, Julianna Shimabukuro, Nuha Khalfay, Jeffrey N Chiang, A Lenore Ackerman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neurourology and urodynamics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Kristen MurrayDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0001-3423-2104
Julianna ShimabukuroUniversity of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Nuha KhalfayDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Jeffrey N ChiangDepartment of Computational Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
A Lenore AckermanDepartments of Urology and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4192-7649

Funding

The Urinary Microbiota and Host Inflammation in Lower Urinary Tract SymptomsK08DK118176 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI ACKERMAN, A. LENORE · 2019 to 2023
$839k
ALA is supported by NIDDK K08DK118176 and Department of Defense PRMRP W81XWH2110644.NIDDK NIH HHS K08 DK118176
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeWhile urinary tract infections (UTIs) are thought to be common among women, as many as 65% of UTI diagnoses may be inaccurate. To identify strategies to improve antibiotic stewardship, we sought to determine the clinical and laboratory factors associated with overdiagnosis and overtreatment of UTIs.

methodsElectronic health records identified patients bearing an isolated diagnostic code for UTI within a single healthcare system during July 2019. Demographic, clinical, and microbial data were collected by manual chart review. Regression analyses were utilized to determine factors associated with guideline non-concordant UTI diagnosis and treatment utilizing R statistical software (version 4.3.1).

resultsIn patients diagnosed with UTI, 64% were treated with antibiotics despite only 28% having symptoms consistent with UTI diagnostic criteria. Of patients diagnosed with a UTI who were treated in an emergency room (ER) setting, 95% were given antibiotics compared with only 55% of patients in an outpatient setting. Even without any urinary symptoms, 95% of patients in the ER and 27% of patients in outpatient settings were treated with antibiotics. Patients who presented to the ER for non-localizing symptoms, such as mental status changes (MSC), were more likely to be diagnosed with UTI compared with those in an outpatient setting.

conclusionThe results of this study demonstrate that patients were frequently diagnosed with and treated for a UTI despite not meeting diagnostic criteria. This pattern of overdiagnosis leads to overtreatment, particularly in acute care settings, contributing to worsening antibiotic resistance in conjunction with incomplete evaluation of patients' primary complaints.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsAntimicrobial StewardshipGuideline AdherenceInappropriate PrescribingPractice Patterns, Physicians'Urinary Tract InfectionsAdultAgedEmergency Service, HospitalFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedOvertreatmentPractice Guidelines as TopicRetrospective StudiesAnti-Bacterial Agentsantibiotic stewardshipcystitisdiagnostic stewardshipovertreatmentrecurrent UTIurinary tract infection

Identifiers

PMID39629893
PMCPMC11788957

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.