Fluoroquinolones Are Overprescribed for Routine Urinary Tract Infections

Doctors appear to be overprescribing fluoroquinolones (FQ) for women with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs), a University of California San Francisco/University of Utah team found.

Working with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a team led by Miwako Kobayashi, MD, MPH, said other drugs are recommended as first-line agents for these common infections.

The team looked at prescribing trends in 7,597 patient visit for outpatient treatment for UTIs.

Reporting at ID Week in San Diego, CA, they found tha FQ were prescribed most or 48% of the time, followed by sulfonamides (27%) and nitrofuratoin (19%). The researchers are concerned about antibiotic resistance. "Despite existing guidelines, FQ are being used as first-line agents for uncomplicated UTI in women," they wrote.

They propose that physicians, particularly internists, need to be targeted for "antibiotic stewardship initiatives." Their findings were presented in an abstract at IDWeek 2015..