Impact of a region wide antimicrobial stewardship guideline on urinary tract infection prescription patterns

Background Fluoroquinolones are frequently prescribed for non complicated urinary tract infection treatments and have a negative ecological impact. We aimed to substitute them by antibiotics with narrower activity spectrum in order to preserve fluoroquinolone activity in complicated hospital infections. Objective To assess the impact of a multi-modal approach that combines the dispatching of antibiotic prescription guidelines and voluntary attendance at educational sessions on general practitioners' (GP) antibiotic prescription habits. Setting This study was led in Franche-Comte, a French eastern region, where GPs were given a guideline recommending a restricted use of fluoroquinolones for urinary tract infections. Method Segmented regression analysis of interrupted time series was used to assess changes in antibiotic prescription. Main outcome measure: The antibiotic prescription data of nitrofurantoin, fosfomycin-trometamol and fluoroquinolones for women aged 15-65 years were obtained from the regional agency of health insurance. Results Twenty months after intervention, the number of nitrofurantoin and fosfomycintrometamol prescriptions increased by 36.8% (95% CI: 30.6-42.2) and 28.5% (95% CI: 22.9-35.4), respectively, while that of norfloxacin decreased by 9.1% (95% CI: -15.3 to -3.5). Conclusion This study suggests that the dispatch of the guideline on urinary tract infection had a moderate impact on antibiotic prescriptions.