ACP Journal Club. Review: Antibiotic prophylaxis on removal of urinary catheters reduces symptomatic urinary tract infections.

Review methods MEDLINE, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Scopus, Cochrane Library (CENTRAL) (all to Nov 2012), clinicaltrials.gov, Google, abstracts from 2006 to 2012 annual meetings of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and other professional meetings, and reference lists of relevant studies were searched for published and unpublished randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials. 7 studies (n = 1520), including 5 published randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 1 unpublished RCT, and 1 non-RCT (n = 713) met the selection criteria. Sample sizes ranged from 48 to 713 patients, and follow-up ranged from 4 days to 6 weeks. 2 studies assessed ciprofloxacin, 2 assessed trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/ SMX), 1 assessed ciprofloxacin or TMP/SMX, and 1 each assessed nitrofurantoin and cefotaxime. 1393 patients were enrolled in studies that only included surgical patients. Randomization and allocation concealment were inadequate in 4 studies.