Defining effective durations of antibiotic therapy for community-acquired pneumonia and urinary tract infections in hospitalized children

Abstract

Purpose of review: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and urinary tract infections (UTI) are two common childhood infections often leading to hospital admission. National guidelines for CAP and UTI in children recommend durations of antibiotic therapy of 10 days and 7-14 days, respectively. Due to concerns of rising antimicrobial resistance and an increased awareness of harms associated with prolonged courses of antibiotics, there is a renewed emphasis on reevaluating commonly prescribed durations of antibiotic therapy across bacterial infections. We describe recent clinical trials and observational studies evaluating durations of therapy for CAP and UTI in adults and children and translate the findings to our suggested approach for selecting durations of antibiotic therapy in hospitalized children.

Recent findings: There is a growing body of evidence, primarily in adults, that shorter durations of therapy than are commonly prescribed are just as effective as longer durations for CAP and UTIs.

Summary: Combining clinical trial data from adults with available data in children, we believe it is reasonable to consider 5 days of therapy for CAP, 3-5 days of therapy for cystitis, and 7 days of therapy for pyelonephritis for most hospitalized children with uncomplicated infections.