Prophylactic antibiotics after urodynamics in women: a decision analysis

The objective of this paper is to compare the risks and benefits of antibiotics to prevent urinary tract infection (UTI) after urodynamics. We developed a decision analytic model to compare the use of prophylactic antibiotics with no antibiotic use after urodynamics to prevent UTI. Risks and benefits were estimated from the literature and by consensus. The main outcome measure was the occurrence of UTI. Secondary outcomes were the development of adverse events and possible sequelae. One-way sensitivity analyses estimated the effect of varying each characteristic through its range while all other characteristics were fixed at their baseline values. The effectiveness of prophylaxis after urodynamics was a reduction of UTI from 9.2 (no antibiotics) to 5.3% (antibiotics). One-way sensitivity analysis of the probability of UTI without prophylaxis yielded a threshold infection rate of 10%, below which, the strategy of no prophylaxis was favored. In this model, prophylactic antibiotics after urodynamics are not beneficial until the rate of UTI without antibiotics exceeds 10%.