Treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria and
urinary tract infection in pregnancy
Guidelines still advise screening and treating ASB in
pregnancy, although the evidence might be outdated.
As far as we know, no studies concerning
optimal treatment of ASB in pregnancy were published
recently. Concerning the treatment of ASB or
UTI, it has to be noted that treatment during pregnancy
can be difficult, as certain antibiotics cannot
be used. Currently, a cohort study [34] with an
embedded randomized controlled trial is being performed
to address this issue in a modern population
in the Netherlands, where screening and treating of
ASB is not part of standard clinical practice.
Pregnant women often experience recurrent
UTI. A Cochrane review on preventing recurrent
UTI in pregnant women, with as primary outcomes
recurrent UTI before birth (variously
defined) and preterm birth (before 37 weeks),
included only one small trial comparing a daily
dose of nitrofurantoin and close surveillance with
close surveillance alone. No differences were
found between the two interventions on the
primary outcomes and only a significant reduction
in ASB was seen in women who received close
surveillance and nitrofurantoin. This review highlighted
that more trials are necessary to assess the
optimal intervention to prevent recurrent UTI in
pregnant women [35&].
The authors of another Cochrane review
addressed the effectiveness of cranberries to prevent
UTIs in pregnant women and concluded that cranberries
are not effective (1.04, 95% CI 0.93–1.17).
This was based on the results of two studies, both
reporting a high number of withdrawals possibly
because of the large quantities consumed of cranberry
juice, which can result into nausea especially
during pregnancy [36&].
Addressing the choice of the right antimicrobial
agent was done in a Spanish retrospective observational
study. The investigators analysed 50 isolated
microorganisms of 93 pregnant women with pyelonephritis
and found that 10% of the cases were not
properly treated with an antibiotic that matched
the causative pathogen and its resistance pattern.
In 46.2% of women with a diagnosis of pyelonephritis,
no microorganisms were found, possibly as
empirical treatment was commenced before a urine
culture was performed