Treatment of urinary tract infection with gentamicin once or three times daily

Abstract

Aim: To examine the safety and efficacy of once-daily (OD) gentamicin treatment compared with conventional 8-hourly dosing (TDS) for urinary tract infection (UTI). Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, controlled trial of children 1 mo to 13 y of age with presumed UTI. Children were randomly assigned to OD gentamicin 5 mg kg−1 d−1 or TDS gentamicin 6 mg kg−1 d−1 divided 8 hourly. Microbiological efficacy, nephrotoxicity, ototoxicity and renal scarring were assessed at the end of treatment. Results: 210 patients with presumed UTI were recruited, of whom 172 were analysable (OD 84, TDS 88). The median age was 7 mo, 50% were male and 74% (n= 127) of patients had pyelonephritis. The majority of infections were due to Escherichia coli (n= 153, 89%), of which 9 (5.2%) were bacteraemic. Comparing the two groups, there was no significant difference in age, gender, duration of fever before admission, pyuria, nitrite positivity or initial total white blood cell count. All patients had negative urine cultures after 2–3 d of treatment, demonstrating 100% microbiological efficacy. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of ototoxicity, nephrotoxicity, duration of gentamicin treatment or time to fever defervescence. Conclusion: OD gentamicin is as efficacious as TDS gentamicin in the treatment of UTI in children, with no difference in ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity.