Urinary Antigen Testing Can Help Improve Antibiotic Stewardship

Angie Szumlinski
|
December 4, 2019
white pill on white background with bottle

Only 15.5 percent of adult patients with pneumonia received pneumococcal urinary antigen testing (UAT), a useful tool that, when it yields positive findings, can help physicians reduce the time that patients in stable condition need to take broad-spectrum antibiotics, according to an AHRQ study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The researchers used data from a national discharge hospital database over a five-year period, from 2010 to 2015. Although UAT is fast, accurate and inexpensive, its utilization remains low. The authors suggest that increased use of UAT can improve antibiotic stewardship efforts. Access the abstract


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