Antibiotics overprescribed in US

[Sheila]

AP
by Mike Stobbe
10 Apr 13

U.S. doctors are prescribing enough antibiotics to give them to 4 out of 5 Americans every year, an alarming pace that suggests they are being overused, a new government study finds.

Overuse is one reason antibiotics are losing their punch, making infections harder to treat. The report released Wednesday gives the first detailed look at usage of these medicines in every state and finds it highest in the South and Appalachia.

"It sounds high," said Keith Rodvold, a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

There is no scientific consensus on an appropriate level of antibiotic prescribing. But some experts said the new study's results are disturbing, and that rates are probably excessive even in the states with the lowest antibiotic prescription levels.

Antibiotics have been commonly available since the 1940s, and have done wonders at saving patients with infections ranging from pneumonia to sexually spread diseases. But bacteria have increasingly gained the power to shrug off antibiotics.

Experts say chances of resistance increase when antibiotics are not used long enough or are taken for the wrong reasons, allowing bacteria to survive and adapt. The Centers for Disease control and Prevention is tracking at least 20 strains of resistant bacteria.

CDC researchers conducted the new study, analyzing a national prescription drug database for 2010. The findings are being published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Other studies have focused on antibiotic prescriptions for specific groups like Medicare patients. This is the first to look at it for all Americans.

Doctors and other health care providers prescribed 258 million courses of antibiotics in 2010, for a population just shy of 309 million, the researchers found. That translates to 833 antibiotic prescriptions for every 1,000 people, on average.

But rates were much higher in West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, where about 1,200 were written for every 1,000 people. On the low end were Alaska, Oregon and California, where prescriptions were at or below 600. Earlier studies found similar geographic trends.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...Top+Stories%29

[Luc]

Next awakening to our collection. I am losing the count of those. :) But that's the best thing to lose, especially on a regular basis.

[Junior]

Try telling that to the idiotic mothers who race their young children to the doctors when they have a runny nose. And they often won't leave until they get anti-biotics! (I knew someone when my son was young who worked as a medical receptionist; she said doctors often give them a script to get them out of the office). A cold is a VIRUS and doesn't NEED anti-biotics.

On the other hand - while my GP (general practitioner; this is the term we use here in OZ) is basically clueless about a/d w/d, he will NOT prescribe anti-biotics if he doesn't think they are needed.

[Sheila]

It’s a real problem, Junior. And I was part of that problem – going to a psychiatrist already decided that I wanted and needed a little antidepressant. I tell ya, that Abilify cartoon commercial I see every night is so cute it still makes me want a pill.

What we need is to increase public education so more people understand about antibiotics…and antidepressants.

[Junior]

Well at least I don't have to put up with ads for a/ds. Even the ads for mild analgesics have to have the disclaimer "see your doctor if symptoms persist".

I don't know how you guys cope with it! In fact, it amazes me that your govt allows it.