Prevalence of Clinical Signs Within Reference Ranges Among Hospitalized Patients Prescribed Antibiotics for Pneumonia.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Antibiotics are frequently prescribed for suspected pneumonia, but overdiagnosis is common and fixed regimens are often used despite randomized trials suggesting it is safe to stop antibiotics once clinical signs are normalizing.

Objective

To quantify potential excess antibiotic prescribing by characterizing antibiotic use relative to patients' initial clinical signs and subsequent trajectories.

Design, setting, and participants

An observational cohort study was conducted in 2 tertiary and 2 community hospitals in Eastern Massachusetts. All nonventilated adult patients admitted between May 1, 2017, and July 1, 2018 (194 521 hospitalizations), were included.

Main outcomes and measures

Identification of all antibiotic starts for possible community-acqu

SUBMITTER: Klompas M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7368172 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature