HMN 2025: How Patient education can reduce preference for antibiotics for asymptomatic bacteriuria

Receipt of a patient-centered educational leaflet decreases the desire to take antibiotics for asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), according to a study published in the December issue of Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Alistair Thorpe, from the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues tested whether a patient-focused educational leaflet improved reported willingness to avoid antibiotics when not clinically necessary. Analysis included 504 U.S. adults ? 65 years reading a scenario of an asymptomatic patient with a positive urine test prior to a nonurologic surgical procedure. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions varying by leaflet receipt and surgeons’ treatment recommendation for antibiotics.

The researchers found that after reading the vignette, respondents shown the leaflet were more comfortable not taking antibiotics, were less likely to misperceive ASB as a urinary tract infection (UTI), and displayed greater knowledge. When told that the surgeon had recommended antibiotics, respondents were less comfortable not taking antibiotics and more likely to misperceive ASB as a UTI.

“These findings offer important preliminary evidence on the potential for patient-centered education to prepare patients and their caregivers to engage in ASB-related treatment decisions,” the authors write.

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