A study led by Dr Ashley Hammond (SPCR Launching Fellow) at the University of Bristol, found a reduction in the overall and individual antibiotic dispensing between 2013 and 2016. Researchers investigated the relationship between primary care antibiotic dispensing and resistance in community-acquired urinary Escherichia coli infections.
Dr Ashley Hammond, Senior Research Associate in the Centre for Academic Primary Care and lead author, said: “Our study suggests encouraging the first-line use of nitrofurantoin for uncomplicated lower UTI remains a reasonable approach. Whilst it is reassuring that reductions in antibiotic dispensing can result in reductions in resistance over a short timescale, this also suggests national prescribing guidelines will need to be reviewed and updated frequently.”
Read the full press release: Study finds some reductions in community antibiotic resistant infections and dispensing
Paper: Antimicrobial resistance associations with national primary care antibiotic stewardship policy: primary care-based, multilevel analytic study by Ashley Hammond, Bobby Stuijfzand, Matthew B Avison and Alastair Hay in PLoS One [open access]