Impact of selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility testing results for urinary tract infections in the outpatient setting: a prospective controlled before-after intervention study.

OBJECTIVES: The use of selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) results is a recommended antimicrobial stewardship strategy to improve the appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions. We conducted a large, pragmatic, prospective, multicentre, controlled (selective reporting versus complete reporting) before-after intervention study to assess the impact of selective reporting of AST results for Escherichia coli-positive urine cultures on the prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics carrying a higher risk of selection of resistance (i.e. amoxicillin-clavulanate, third-generation cephalosporins, and quinolones) in the outpatient setting. We also looked for possible unintended clinical consequences of the intervention leading to consultations and/or hospitalizations. METHODS: We compared two groups of laboratories located in a French region. We collected data from the health insurance databases before (2017) and after the implementation of the intervention (2019). The primary outcome was the prescription proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotics. RESULTS: We included 42,956 Escherichia coli-positive urine cultures with AST. The decrease in the proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions between 2017 and 2019 was significantly higher for selective reporting of AST, attributable to a decrease in the prescription proportion of third-generation cephalosporins (-8.5% for selective reporting versus -0.1% for complete reporting, p < 0.001). This impact was more marked for targeted therapy and female patients. Requests from clinicians for the complete reporting of AST results were infrequent (1.2% of all the selective AST results reported in 2019). No unintended consequences were observed. DISCUSSION: The results showed a positive impact of the selective reporting of AST results, but room for improvement is still important.

Impact of selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility test results in urinary tract infections in the outpatient setting: a protocol for a pragmatic, prospective quasi-experimental trial.

INTRODUCTION: Antibiotic resistance is a serious and increasing worldwide threat to global public health. One of antibiotic stewardship programmes' objectives are to reduce inappropriate broad-spectrum antibiotics' prescription. Selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) results, which consists of reporting to prescribers only few (n=5-6) antibiotics, preferring first-line and narrow-spectrum agents, is one possible strategy advised in recommendations. However, selective reporting of AST has never been evaluated using an experimental design. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is a pragmatic, prospective, multicentre, controlled (selective reporting vs usual complete reporting of AST), before-after (year 2019 vs 2017) study. Selective reporting of AST is scheduled to be implemented from September 2018 in the ATOUTBIO group of 21 laboratories for all Escherichia coli identified in urine cultures in adult outpatients, and to be compared with the usual complete AST performed in the EVOLAB group of 20 laboratories. The main objective is to assess the impact of selective reporting of AST for E. coli-positive urine cultures in the outpatient setting on the prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics frequently used for urinary tract infections (amoxicillin-clavulanate, third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones). The primary end point is the after (2019)-before (2017) difference in prescription rates for the previously mentioned antibiotics/classes that will be compared between the two laboratory groups, using linear regression models. Secondary objectives are to evaluate the feasibility of selective reporting of AST implementation by French laboratories and their acceptability by organising focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews with general practitioners and laboratory professionals. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved by French national ethics committees (Comité d'expertise pour les recherches, les études et les évaluations dans le domaine de la santé (TPS 29064) and Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (Décision DR-2018-141)). Findings of this study will be widely disseminated through conference presentations, reports, factsheets and academic publications and generalisation will be further discussed. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NTC03612297.