Impact of selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility testing results for urinary tract infections in the outpatient setting: a prospective controlled before-after intervention study

Abstract

Objectives: The use of selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) results is a recommended antimicrobial stewardship strategy to improve the appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions. We conducted a large, pragmatic, prospective, multicentre, controlled (selective reporting versus complete reporting) before-after intervention study to assess the impact of selective reporting of AST results for Escherichia coli-positive urine cultures on the prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics carrying a higher risk of selection of resistance (i.e. amoxicillin-clavulanate, third-generation cephalosporins, and quinolones) in the outpatient setting. We also looked for possible unintended clinical consequences of the intervention leading to consultations and/or hospitalizations.

Methods: We compared two groups of laboratories located in a French region. We collected data from the health insurance databases before (2017) and after the implementation of the intervention (2019). The primary outcome was the prescription proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Results: We included 42,956 Escherichia coli-positive urine cultures with AST. The decrease in the proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions between 2017 and 2019 was significantly higher for selective reporting of AST, attributable to a decrease in the prescription proportion of third-generation cephalosporins (-8.5% for selective reporting versus -0.1% for complete reporting, p < 0.001). This impact was more marked for targeted therapy and female patients. Requests from clinicians for the complete reporting of AST results were infrequent (1.2% of all the selective AST results reported in 2019). No unintended consequences were observed.

Discussion: The results showed a positive impact of the selective reporting of AST results, but room for improvement is still important.

Keywords: Antibiotic prescriptions; Antimicrobial stewardship; Microbiology; Outpatient setting; Urinary tract infections.