The Safety of Delayed Versus Immediate Antibiotic Prescribing for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections.

ABSTRACT:

Background

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical safety of delayed antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), which is recommended in treatment guidelines for less severe cases.

Methods

Two population-based cohort studies used the English Clinical Practice Research Databank and Welsh Secure Anonymized Information Linkage, containing electronic health records from primary care linked to hospital admission records. Patients with URTI and prescriptions of amoxicillin, clarithromycin, doxycycline, erythromycin, or phenoxymethylpenicillin were identified. Patients were stratified according to delayed and immediate prescribing relative to URTI diagnosis. Outcome of interest was infection-related hospital admission after 30 days.

Results

The p

SUBMITTER: van Staa TP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8282258 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature