Cost-Effectiveness Comparison of Single and Multiple-Dose Antibiotic Treatment of Lower Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections

Summary

This study analyzed the cost-effectiveness of antibiotic treatments of different durations for acute cystitis in nonpregnant females. Questionnaires were sent to 400 practitioners evenly distributed throughout Italy. Data are reported from 2,069 patients. The clinical bacteriological efficacy at 10-15 days was 86.496 for single-dose treatment with fosfomy-cin-trometamol (FT), and 81.8% for the multiple-dose antibiotics group (MDAG). Disappearance of symptoms occurred in 2.1 days with FT and 3.4 days with MDAG. With FT 93.8% of patients were free of adverse events and 86.9% with MDAG. Analysis of the cost-effectiveness indicators for cure rate and absence of adverse events showed that treatment costs were similar for all antibiotics. FT needed less time interval for symptoms to disappear with a slightly higher cost than for MDAG, which had a better cost/effectiveness ratio.

Key Words:

• urinary tract infections
• cost-effectiveness
• fosfomycin trometamol
• cost of antibiotic therapy.