A Cochrane review «Duration of treatment for asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy»1 «Widmer M, Lopez I, Gülmezoglu AM et al. Duration of treatment for asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2015;(11):CD000491. »1 included 13 studies with a total of 1622 women. All were comparisons of single-dose treatment with four- to seven-day treatments. The trials were generally of limited quality. The 'no cure rate' for asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnant women was higher for one-day treatment than for seven-day treatment (RR 1.33, 95% CI 0.88 to 2.01; 12 trials, n=1502) although this difference was non-statistically significant. There was almost no difference in the recurrence of asymptomatic bacteriuria rate between both treatments (RR 1.09, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.60; 8 trials, n=245). No differences were detected for preterm births and pyelonephritis although sample size of trials was not appropriate. Single-dose treatment was associated with a decrease in reports of 'any side-effects' (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea).
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by inconsistency (variability of results across studies) and imprecise results.