Background: Resistance to the prescribed antibiotic causes a longer duration of symptoms in patients with urinary tract infection. Yet, a study found that patients infected with trimethoprim-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) had a prolonged duration of symptoms even if treated with an antibiotic to which the strain was susceptible. The purpose of this study was to attempt to reproduce this finding in a different cohort.
Methods: We analyzed data from two studies from general practice in the Capital Region of Denmark including patients from 2014 to 2016. The primary outcome was the severity of frequency and dysuria. The secondary outcome was the number of days until symptoms had disappeared.
Results: We included 180 women treated for uncomplicated cystitis caused by E. coli. We found that 16.11% (n = 29) of the E. coli strains were resistant to all of the three selected antibiotics (ampicillin, sulfamethizole and trimethoprim). There was no significant difference in severity or time until the symptoms had disappeared between women infected with resistant or susceptible E. coli.
Conclusions: Strains of E. coli resistant to ampicillin, sulfamethizole and trimethoprim causing uncomplicated cystitis do not result in more severe symptoms or a longer symptom duration if treated with an antibiotic to which they are susceptible.
Keywords: Denmark; drug resistance, microbial; patient-reported outcome measures; primary health care; treatment outcome; urinary tract infections; uropathogenic Escherichia coli.