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Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women are easily treated … except when they aren't. Empirical antibiotics fail more often than we would like, leading to ongoing discomfort, increased cost, and more antibiotic use. Using data for 2017 to 2021 that were extracted from a nationwide electronic health record, industry-supported researchers tallied treatment outcomes among more than 370,000 U.S. women who received empirical oral antibiotics for uncomplicated UTIs.
The overall rate of treatment failure (defined as the need for an additional antibiotic prescription) was 17%. Failure rates were considerably higher among those with previous UTI treatment failures (34%). High rates of failure were also seen among patients who had received ≥3 oral an…