IV Antibiotics for Urinary Tract Infection in Infants: Is Less More?

For children older than 2 months of age, guidelines do not dictate a preference for intravenous (IV) over oral antibiotics as initial therapy for urinary tract infection (UTI). Children younger than 60 days with UTI are frequently admitted to the hospital and treated with IV antibiotics, but the optimal duration of treatment is not known.

Using an administrative and billing database of 46 children's hospitals from 2005 to 2015, investigators reviewed trends in IV antibiotic treatment of otherwise healthy infants <60 days of age with a primary diagnosis of UTI. The primary outcome was hospital readmission within 30 days.

Among nearly 4000 hospitalizations reviewed, 69% of infants received short-term (≤3 days) IV antibiotic therapy and 31% rece…