Clinical Practice Guidelines by Infectious Diseases Society of America: 2025 Guideline on Management and Treatment of Complicated Urinary Tract Infections-Selection of Antibiotic Therapy for Complicated Urinary Tract Infections.

BACKGROUND

These recommendations address the empiric choice of antibiotics in suspected complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI). Issues to balance include the need for appropriate initial empiric antimicrobial therapy, the patient's severity of illness, and antimicrobial stewardship concerns.

METHODS

The panel's recommendations are based upon evidence derived from systematic literature reviews that focused on comparative benefits and harms of classes of antibiotics approved for cUTI, starting with publications from 2008 onwards, and our review of predictors of resistance in uropathogens included references identified since 2000. These recommendations adhere to a standardized methodology for rating the certainty of evidence and strength of recommendation according to the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach.

RESULTS

The guidelines panel suggests initially selecting among preferred empiric antibiotic choices rather than alternative options, stratified for the patient's severity of illness and antimicrobial stewardship considerations. When choosing among these antibiotics for a specific patient, the guideline panel suggests a 4-step process to account for changing resistance patterns and individualized patient needs. The steps are: (1) assess the severity of illness (for initial prioritization of antibiotics), (2) consider patient-specific risk factors for resistant uropathogens (for optimization of coverage), (3) evaluate other patient-specific considerations (to reduce the risk of adverse events), and (4) for patients with sepsis, consult a relevant local antibiogram if available (to further improve the likelihood of giving appropriate empiric therapy). Lastly, the guideline panel suggests selecting definitive effective therapy with a targeted spectrum based on the result of the urine culture.

CONCLUSIONS

Many of the classes of antibiotics approved to treat cUTI demonstrate similar efficacy as other classes of antibiotics in randomized controlled trials. Bacterial resistance prevalence is always changing, and new antibiotics will be developed. In this context, the guidelines panel provides recommendations for choosing empiric antibiotic therapy for cUTI that will help clinicians decide among available antibiotic options at the point of care.