“Antibiotics Often Inappropriately Prescribed for Hospitalized Kids”

“Nearly one-third of all antibiotics prescribed for hospitalized children globally were intended to prevent potential infections rather than to treat disease, according to the results of a worldwide survey published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. A large proportion of these preventive, or prophylactic, prescriptions also were for broad-spectrum antibiotics or combinations of antibiotics, or were for prolonged periods, which can hasten the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and drug-resistant infections.

“This pattern and high rate of prophylactic prescribing indicates a clear overuse of antibiotics,” said study author Markus Hufnagel, DTM&H, of the University of Freiburg in Germany. “Hopefully, our study results will help to raise awareness among health professionals about appropriate prescribing of antibiotics in children,” Hufnagel said.

The study provides a snapshot of antibiotic prescriptions for 6,818 children who were inpatients at 226 pediatric hospitals in 41 countries, including four hospitals in the United States, during one day in 2012. There were 11,899 total prescriptions for antibiotics, and 28.6 percent of these were for prophylactic use, researchers found. Among hospitalized children who received at least one antibiotic prescription, 32.9 percent (2,242 children) were prescribed an antibiotic to prevent a potential infection rather than to treat a current one.”

Source: Infection Control Today

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