Evidence Hub

The clinical usefulness of guideline-based strategies with and without the role of nonspecific symptoms to predict urinary tract infections in nursing homes: a decision curve analysis

S. Kuil, M. D. de Jong, C. Schneeberger, F. van Leth

Antimicrobial Stewardship and Healthcare Epidemiology, 2024

13 participants

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical value of urinary tract infections (UTIs) guideline algorithms and the role of nonspecific symptoms to support clinical decision-making in nursing home residents. Design: In a preplanned secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study including nursing home residents with a presumed UTI, 2 prediction models were used in a decision curve analysis (DCA): (1) guideline-based and (2) extended: nonspecific symptom(s) added to the guideline model. The stringent outcome definition for “true UTIs” included symptom improvement during adequate antimicrobial therapy, based on susceptibility test results. The outcome of a DCA is the Net Benefit to quantify the performance of the prediction models, visualized in a decision curve. Setting: Dutch nursing homes (n = 13). Patients: Nursing home residents with a presumed UTI. Results: Of the 180 residents with a presumed UTI, 43 fulfilled the definition of “true UTI” (23.9%). The Net Benefit of the guideline-based model was low and the corresponding threshold range was small (21%–28%). The extended model improved the prediction of UTIs. However, the clinical usefulness of the extended model was still limited to a small threshold range (10%–28%). Conclusions: The clinical usefulness of the current guideline-based algorithm to diagnose UTI in nursing home residents seems limited, and adding nonspecific symptoms does not further improve decision-making due to the small threshold…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 13 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free