Cost-effectiveness comparison of single and multiple-dose antibiotic treatment of lower uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

This study analyzed the cost-effectiveness of antibiotic treatments of different durations for acute cystitis in non-pregnant females. Questionnaires were sent to 400 practitioners evenly distributed throughout Italy. Data are reported from 2,069 patients. The clinical bacteriological efficacy at 10-15 days was 86.4% for single-dose treatment with fosfomycin-trometamol (FT), and 81.8% for the multiple-dose antibiotics group (MDAG). Disappearance of symptoms occurred in 2.1 days with FT and 3.4 days with MDAG. With FT 93.8% of patients were free of adverse events and 86.9% with MDAG. Analysis of the cost-effectiveness indicators for cure rate and absence of adverse events showed that treatment costs were similar for all antibiotics. FT needed less time interval for symptoms to disappear with a slightly higher cost than for MDAG, which had a better cost/effectiveness ratio.