Clinical question: What is the optimal duration of oral ciprofloxacin in women with acute community-acquired pyelonephritis?
Background: Despite being a commonly encountered infection, there are little data on the appropriate duration of therapy for acute pyelonephritis in women.
Study design: Prospective, randomized, open-labeled, double-blinded, noninferiority trial.
Setting: Twenty-one infectious diseases centers in Sweden.
Synopsis: Two hundred forty-eight women aged 18 or older with a presumed diagnosis of pyelonephritis were randomized to treatment with seven or 14 days of oral ciprofloxacin 500 mg twice daily. One hundred fifty-six per protocol patients were analyzed, and short-term clinical cure was shown to be noninferior, with cure of 97% in the seven-day group and 96% in the 14-day group (90% confidence interval -6.5-4.8, P=0.004). Results were also shown to be valid for older women and those with more severe infections. With growing concerns of antibiotic resistance and adverse drug events, using shorter courses of antibiotics has come into favor. The authors warn that these findings should not be extrapolated to other classes of antibiotics.
Bottom line: Treatment of community-acquired acute pyelonephritis in women with ciprofloxacin 500 mg twice daily for seven days is not inferior to 14 days.
Citation: Sandberg T, Skoog G, Hermansson AB, et al. Ciprofloxacin for 7 days versus 14 days in women with acute pyelonephritis: a randomised, open-label and double-blind, placebo-controlled, non-inferiority trial. Lancet. 2012; Jun 20: [Epub ahead of print].