title: Urinary tract infection: economic considerations.
abstract: Urinary tract infection results in significant morbidity and mortality while consuming large amounts of national resources. The prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of urinary tract infection produce both costs and benefits, and economic analysis provides a rational framework for looking at these effects. The goals and methods of economic analysis in medicine are summarized, and strategies to address uncomplicated cystitis, nosocomial urinary tract infection, and pyelonephritis are reviewed, with an emphasis on the economic trade-offs faced by decision makers.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Internal Medicine, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Patton
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abrutyn
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000191:economics*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011704:Pyelonephritis / Q000191:economics; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000191:economics*