American children are being prescribed antibiotics too frequently, often for viral respiratory infections for which they provide no benefits, researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. The authors add that the use of broad spectrum antibiotics has been on the rise for several years, adding extra avoidable costs to medical care, as well as encouraging antibiotic resistance.
Over 10 million ineffective and unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions are written for children by doctors in the USA each year, the authors wrote.
Antibiotic resistance, sometimes termed drug resistance refers to the ability of microorganism, such as bacteria to withstand an antibacterial that used to kill them. The misuse of antibacterial treatment has contributed to the growing problem of antibacterial-resistant bacteria. Overuse in farming (livestock) and also for humans of antibacterials are examples of some factors that have contributed to the problem.
The gradual overuse of erythromycin and penicillin has been linked to the progression of antibacterial resistance since the 1950s. There is concern among some experts that some “superbugs” will emerge for which there will be no effective antibiotic medication.
Penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, used to be a widely used and effective antibiotic. Since the 1950s, more and more bacteria have become resistant to it.
Adam Hersh, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and team set out to determine levels of antibiotic prescribing in the USA in ambulatory pediatrics. They also wanted to determine what factors are linked to the prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics to children.
They gathered data from the National Ambulatory and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys, dated 2006 to 2008. The authors wrote that the surveys represent ambulatory care visits nationally.
They worked out what percentage of patients were prescribed antibiotics and how they were diagnosed.
The authors found that:
- 21% of pediatric ambulatory visits result in an antibiotic prescription
50% of these were broad-spectrum antibiotics - In 70% of cases where both antibiotics and broad spectrum antibiotics were prescribed, the patient had a respiratory condition
- In 23% of respiratory visits where antibiotics were prescribed, they should not have been – nationally, a total of over 10 million unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions
In an Abstract in the journal, the authors concluded:
“Broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing in ambulatory pediatrics is extremely common and frequently inappropriate. These findings can inform the development and implementation of antibiotic stewardship efforts in ambulatory care toward the most important geographic regions, diagnostic conditions, and patient populations.”
Written by Christian Nordqvist