Which antibiotics best prevent infections for children with vesicoureteral reflux?

Children with vesicoureteral reflux often need to take continuous antibiotics to reduce the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs). But which antibiotics do the best job at preventing these infections?

Researchers in the Division of Urology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles recently conducted a study to shed more light on this issue. The results were presented recently at the Societies for Pediatric Urology Congress in Houston.

The retrospective study examined how often these patients have breakthrough UTIs. The study included 402 children with reflux who were seen at CHLA from 2015 to 2021. All the patients were on continuous antibiotic therapy.

The study found that:

• Patients taking cephalexin had the highest rates of breakthrough UTIs, at 2.52 per 100 person months.
• Patients taking sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim also had relatively high rates of infections, at 1.52 per 100 person months.
• A large percentage of breakthrough UTIs were resistant to both cephalexin and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim.
• Nitrofurantoin had the lowest rates of breakthrough UTIs.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles release on Newswise