{"id":27617,"date":"2020-11-14T06:43:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T06:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/?p=27617"},"modified":"2020-11-14T06:43:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T06:43:28","slug":"wrongly-prescribing-antibiotics-sets-dangerous-pattern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/?p=27617","title":{"rendered":"Wrongly Prescribing Antibiotics Sets Dangerous Pattern"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Latest Infectious Disease News<\/h3>\n

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\"News<\/p>\n

FRIDAY, Nov. 13, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n

Prescribing antibiotics for viral respiratory infections increases the risk of future infections and more antibiotic prescriptions, a new study warns.<\/p>\n

Antibiotics are ineffective against viral infections.<\/p>\n

For the study, researchers analyzed data from a U.S. insurer on more than 200,000 initial visits for acute respiratory infections at 736 urgent care centers nationwide and found that rates of antibiotic prescriptions ranged from 42% to 80%.<\/p>\n

In the year after an initial acute respiratory infection<\/a> visit, patients seen by the highest-prescribing clinicians received nearly 15% more antibiotics for respiratory infections — an additional three antibiotic prescriptions per 100 patients — than patients seen by the lowest-prescribing clinicians.<\/p>\n

The increase in prescriptions was largely driven by a higher number of acute respiratory infection<\/a> visits (an increase of about six visits per 100 patients), rather than a higher antibiotic prescribing rate, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

Patients weren’t more likely to get antibiotics on repeat visits, but each return visit provided another opportunity to receive antibiotics, the study authors explained.<\/p>\n

The study findings, published online recently in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases<\/em>, are alarming because they suggest that giving an inappropriate antibiotic prescription for a viral infection can lead to further inappropriate antibiotic use.<\/p>\n

“The choices physicians make about prescribing antibiotics can have long-term effects on when individual patients choose to obtain care,” said study author Zhuo Shi, a Harvard Medical School student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, in Boston.<\/p>\n

“A physician who prescribes an antibiotic inappropriately needs to understand that it’s not just one little prescription of a harmless antibiotic but a potential gateway to a much bigger problem,” Shi said in a Harvard news release.<\/p>\n

Patients with a viral illness may wrongly credit antibiotics for improvements in their symptoms, so they believe they need antibiotics the next time they have similar symptoms, the researchers explained.<\/p>\n

The investigators even found that the spouses of such patients had similar increases in visits and antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory infections.<\/p>\n

Previous studies have shown that nearly one-quarter of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions are inappropriate, which results in unnecessary spending, puts patients at risk of side effects for no medical reason, and contributes to the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains<\/a> of bacteria, the study authors said.<\/p>\n

More information<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more on antibiotics, go to the American Academy of Family Physicians<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: Harvard Medical School, news release, Nov. 9, 2020<\/p>\n

Robert Preidt<\/p>\n

\"MedicalNews\"
Copyright \u00a9 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n


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