Impact Of Uncomplicated UTI On Women’s Health, Productivity, And Cost in the US

According to research published in PLOS ONE, Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are frequent, particularly among US citizens with any symptoms (UTIs). Women with dysuria, urinary frequency, urgency, and suprapubic discomfort are deemed to have dysuria if they have no fever, urinary tract function abnormalities, anatomical abnormalities, and no recent urinary instrumentation.

Urinary tract infections and cystitis account for 0.9% of all ambulatory care visits in the United States, with 10.5 million yearly visits. Because of their broad-spectrum antibacterial action, fosfomycin, nitrofurantoin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and -lactams (amoxicillin-clavulanate, cefdinir, cefaclor, cefpodoxime-proxetil, and cephalexin) are among the most widely given antibiotics for UTIs. However, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria is a global issue.   

Approximately half to two-thirds of all women get a urinary tract infection over their lives. A urinary tract infection affects one-third of all women before 24. UTIs cause significant disruption in people’s lives and can be pretty expensive. According to a 2014 study of the English population by Butler, 15% of patients claimed UTIs affected their everyday life “a great deal,” 37% said it affected their lives “fairly,” and 95% indicated they saw a doctor about their most recent UTI. In all evaluation areas, the quality-of-life scores (based on the Short-Form 36 questionnaire) of US women with outpatient UTIs were lower than those of healthy controls.  

The cost of identifying and treating UTIs is substantial; around $2 billion is spent annually in the United States alone. Women are more likely than males to have urinary tract infections. Prevalence estimates in the literature range from 20% to 40%; however, some studies found that 43% of women had recurrent UTIs. It’s a common occurrence, but physicians still don’t fully understand the toll that sickness has on people. An online questionnaire questioned 375 American women over 18 for this study. Each patient had a UTI treated with oral antibiotics within the previous 60 days.  

The impact of UTIs on participants’ day-to-day functioning, health-related quality of life, work productivity, healthcare resource utilization, and healthcare expenditures was assessed. According to the findings, 66.9% of people reported problems with their sexual relationships, 60.8% had trouble sleeping, and 52.3% had trouble obtaining enough exercise. Individuals with UTIs also had higher medical costs, lower work productivity, and less extracurricular activity participation.  

“As a woman who gets UTIs, I can speak to the truth that it is tough to work, sleep, and even more difficult to exercise if you have a UTI,” Dr. Linehan stated. A urinary tract infection (UTI) can cause burning, discomfort, and an urgent need to pee, among the most unpleasant bodily sensations.   

When the UTI group was compared to a matched population based on the 2020 NHWS, the uUTI group had worse HRQoL ratings, particularly MCS. Furthermore, WPAI Inefficient medicine may explain the higher direct costs associated with uUTI when many oral antibiotics are used rather than a single oral antibiotic. Depending on the prescription and the length of therapy, antibiotics are frequently given improperly for treating UTIs.   

However, findings indicate inadequate medicine supply since patients require many prescriptions to treat their UTIs. Knowing which antibiotic is most successful for treating urinary tract infections might help you save money. Antibiotic usage violates antibiotic stewardship guidelines and contributes to the global problem of antimicrobial resistance. Because E. coli is the most prevalent uropathogenic responsible for uUTI, it has had a far more significant impact on patients at high risk of developing antibiotic resistance than on the NHWS cohort. These data highlight the massive challenge that uUTI poses for patients.  

Researchers also discovered that those who had recurrent UTI had higher mean total out-of-pocket spending, higher mean indirect costs, poorer HRQoL (PCS, SF-6D), and productivity scores (presenteeism, overall work impairment) than people who had never had recurrent UTI. Previous research has used a qualitative examination of online forum conversations to highlight the patient’s viewpoint on the burden of recurrent UTI, highlighting the enormous and variable impact that recurring infections have on people’s quality of life. These writers discovered, as researchers did, that sexual activity was frequently stopped.

Women with recurrent UTI in 5 European countries had physical health scores that were 23-55% lower than a US general population comparator (depending on the country and whether or not they had a current acute UTI or had a UTI in the previous four weeks), and mental health scores that were 55-81% lower than the comparator.

Some findings support these findings by indicating a more significant proportion of the group with sub-average MCS scores than PCS scores. The study’s strength lies in its capacity to demonstrate that patients with recurrent uUTI have a higher HRQoL burden than those who treat the illness by comparing them to patients who do not have this disease. Furthermore, several participants in previous research were ineligible for this study due to complex UTIs. By studying persons with uUTI, researchers could only establish that even mild infections significantly impacted HRQoL.