Antibiotic Prescribing in Outpatient Settings: Rural Patients Are More Likely to Receive Fluoroquinolones and Longer Antibiotic Courses.

ABSTRACT: Suboptimal antibiotic prescribing may be more common in patients living in rural versus urban areas due to various factors such as decreased access to care and diagnostic testing equipment. Prior work demonstrated a rural health disparity of overprescribing antibiotics and longer durations of antibiotic therapy in the United States; however, large-scale evaluations are limited. We evaluated the association of rural residence with suboptimal outpatient antibiotic use in the national Veterans Affairs (VA) system. Outpatient antibiotic dispensing was assessed for the veterans diagnosed with an upper respiratory tract infection (URI), pneumonia (PNA), urinary tract infection (UTI), or skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) in 2010-2020. Rural-urban status was determined using rural-urban commut

SUBMITTER: Appaneal HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9952143 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature