UK Doctors Still Over-Prescribing Antibiotics
Medical research carried out in the UK suggests that doctors are continuing to prescribe antibiotics in instances where they are not required, such as colds and coughs. Additionally, through an assessment of GP records, it was established that antibiotics were being prescribed too frequently for ear infections and sore throats. As reported by the British Medical Journal, no evidence exists that serious complications can be prevented by prescribing them, with an exception of chest infections.
Experts are urging that antibiotics are prescribed less freely and warn that, if not, resistance to them will grow.
The current guidelines advise that antibiotics should not be used in patients with infections of the upper respiratory tract (e.g. – coughs, sinusitis, and colds) – on the basis that all these can be attributed to a virus. Antibiotics are, additionally, not suitable for patients with chest infections, unless pneumonia is also present.
The new research was carried out by a team at University College London’s Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology. They discovered that, in the period 1994-2000, a 45 per cent drop occurred in the volume of acute respiratory infection-related antibiotic prescriptions. However, by 2000, antibiotics were still being prescribed to around 66 per cent of those with respiratory infections.
They were administered to about 90 per cent of patients with chest infections. The comparable figures for patients with ear infections and sore throats were 80 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively.
According to the research team, the large-scale prescription of antibiotics could have been the result of doctors worrying that the patients in question were susceptible to developing further complications, and therefore safeguarding against this. However, post-respiratory infection complications are not common. Furthermore, antibiotics have only a very limited ability to protect against future risks.
The London research team was led by Dr Andrew Hayward, who described how doctors often face criticism when antibiotics are prescribed in seemingly unnecessary circumstances, but defended the practice – especially when elderly patients are involved. However, he added: "It shows there's still clear scope for reductions in antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections. From the point of view of prevention of severe illness they can be confident that the number of people they need to treat is really not worth it, especially as antibiotics are not without side effects and there are concerns over antibiotic resistance."
Dr Hayward concluded that further research was required to assist doctors with distinguishing between cases of chest infections and more serious pneumonia.
Source – Pharmaceutical International’s Health Reporter
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