08/21/2022
This study is far from definitive. For decades I've successfully ENDED ongoing recurrent infections by simply NOT prescribing the routine antibiotics previously given to the patient for those specific infections. The antibiotics were suppressing immunity it seems and CAUSING recurrences. Although it correctly identifies harms of antibiotic overuse, this important new study did not investigate those serious consequences.
The Costs and Dangers of Inappropriate Prescribing
Along with our co-researchers, we examined anonymized healthcare claims for 2.8 million children and found that inappropriate prescribing ranged widely -- from 4% to 70% -- depending on the infection. Sometimes antibiotics were improperly used to treat viral infections, which don't respond to these drugs. At other times, powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics (e.g., azithromycin and cefdinir) were prescribed to treat bacterial infections for which medical guidelines recommend more targeted treatments (e.g., amoxicillin).
This second category is where we found the highest costs and most serious adverse events: Children who received broad-spectrum antibiotics for bacterial ear, throat, or sinus infections were three to eight times more likely to develop potentially life-threatening Clostridioides difficile (formerly known as Clostridium difficile) infections than children who were prescribed a more targeted medication. In 2017, this pathogen caused about 223,900 hospitalizations and 12,800 deaths in the U.S.; the harmful microbe can proliferate when strong antibiotics wipe out the good bacteria in the gut.
This cohort study evaluates the comparative safety and health care expenditures of inappropriate vs appropriate oral antibiotic prescriptions for common outpatient pediatric infections.
