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Study Doubts Antibiotics for Kids With UTI

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 July 2007, 18:22 CDT

Prophylactic antibiotics don't reduce urinary tract infections in children but increase their risk for resistant infections, say U.S. researchers.

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia conducted a study to identify risk factors for recurrent UTIs.

Current guidelines say that, after a first UTI, children should be evaluated for vesicoureteral reflux -- a backflow of urine from the bladder to the ureter that exists in 30 percent to 40 percent of cases -- and if found, daily prophylactic antibiotics should be given to prevent recurrent infections.

The team studied 74,974 children to identify those diagnosed with a first UTI from birth through age 6 between July 2001 and May 2006.

They found 611 children with a first UTI and 83 with a recurrent UTI. Risk factors included Caucasian race (twice the risk), ages 3 to 5 (over twice the risk), and grade 4 to 5 VUR (4.4 times the risk). Prophylactic antibiotics significantly increased the likelihood of resistant infections (7.5 times the risk).

The authors said that, given these findings, monitoring children with VUR after a first UTI might be the best course of action.

For more information, see the July 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: United Press International

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