Researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital analyzed US emergency department visits for pediatric urinary tract infections (UTIs) to uncover trends in antibiotic prescribing practices. As reported by CIDRAP, from 2011 to 2020, use of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for pediatric UTIs prescriptions declined from 20.6% to 9.9% of visits—which was considered encouraging against concerns for increasing drug resistance—and the use of enteral first-generation cephalosporins increased from 15.2% to 32.6% of visits. Meanwhile, use of enteral third-generation cephalosporins remained flat. More than 1,080 UTI visits by patients aged 18 years and younger were studied.
Stewardship efforts: The authors note in a video abstract from Pediatrics, where the study was published, that antimicrobial stewardship efforts may benefit from nuanced site-specific susceptibility criteria.