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WEDNESDAY, July 8, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Penicillin<\/a> allergy<\/a> is often unconfirmed in hospital patients, meaning many unnecessarily receive other antibiotics that may be less effective and even harmful, a new study finds.<\/p>\n The researchers analyzed records of nearly 11,000 patients at 106 U.S. hospitals and found that 16% of those with a self-reported penicillin<\/a> allergy<\/a> were twice as likely to be prescribed alternative antibiotics.<\/p>\n But the substitutions were probably unnecessary, according to a study published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine<\/i>, because more than nine out of 10 reported penicillin allergies<\/a> have not been confirmed.<\/p>\n “Too often clinicians are making inferior antibiotic decisions based on unverified penicillin allergy<\/a> histories that may date back to a patient’s childhood and are no longer valid,” said lead author Dr. Kimberly Blumenthal, of the division of rheumatology<\/a>, allergy<\/a> and immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.<\/p>\n “As a result, patients are often prescribed antibiotics other than penicillins<\/a> and cephalosporins — some of our core infection fighters — that may increase the risk of adverse side effects and antibiotic resistance<\/a>,” she explained.<\/p>\n This pattern could be changed if doctors did “a little more testing” or took the time to ask patients about a reported penicillin allergy<\/a>, rather than taking the penicillin allergy<\/a> label at face value, she said.<\/p>\n About half of hospitalized patients receive antibiotics to treat or prevent bacterial infections<\/a>, and more than 10% have a penicillin allergy documented in their medical records.<\/p>\n Hospitals need to do a better job of risk detection, Blumenthal said. But she noted that while there is a diagnostic test to detect penicillin allergy, less than half of hospitals have access to it.<\/p>\n “Hospitals should clearly be treating patients with the most targeted and effective antibiotic for their infection, rather than being influenced by a penicillin reaction years earlier that might have been nothing more than itching<\/a> or a headache<\/a>,” she said in a hospital news release. “That will require hospitals to become much more vigilant and proactive in penicillin allergy assessment as part of their inpatient antibiotic stewardship programs.”<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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