Treatment practice of acute cystitis on the basis of national prescription data

Abstract

Urinary tract infections are one of the common diseases in the primary health care. To analyse patterns of ambulatory antibiotic use in acute cystitis. Antibiotic use data was based on national-level prescription turnovers. Patterns of antibiotic use were evaluated by prescribing quality indicators. The content of different national guidelines for treatment of acute cystitis and adherence to these guidelines were also evaluated. For the treatment of acute cystitis quinolones were used predominantly. Norfloxacin (26%) and ciprofloxacin (19%) were prescribed most commonly. The use of internationally recommended agents such as sulphonamides, nitrofurans and fosfomycin shared 15%, 7% and 2%, respectively. The average adherence rate to national guidelines was 66% and certain weak points (e.g. controversial content) of the national guidelines were also identified. Antibiotic use in acute cystitis seems to be suboptimal in Hungary. Considering actual local antibiotic resistance patterns, a new national guideline should be worked out for acute cystitis treatment.