Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Antibiotics in Childhood Asthma


Most experts agree that there is little role in use of antibiotics in chronic or acute treatment of asthma.  In addition, antibiotic overuse may delay diagnosis and management of a chronic condition and undermine medical provider recommendations. 
After all, if an inflammatory lung condition is repeatedly conflated with an infectious process, families may lose faith in medical care and seek treatment options elsewhere.
Dr. Susarla
Children with asthma are prescribed antibiotics at a higher rate than those without asthma, according to a study published in BMJ Open. Furthermore, the diseases for which they are prescribed typically do not call for antibiotics.
This underscores the importance of measured distribution of antibiotics among physicians to avoid overprescribing and its consequences, which include further infection and microbial resistance.
This population-based retrospective cohort study included data from 26,750 participants with asthma and 330,916 without asthma, all of whom were aged 5 to 18 years old. Asthma was defined by ≥2 respiratory drug prescriptions within 1 year after receiving an asthma code. Data were collected from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) in the UK and Integrated Primary Care Information Database (IPCI) in the Netherlands. Rates of antibiotic prescriptions were compared using a Poisson regression model, and use indications were compared between individuals with and without asthma using Fisher's exact or chi-square tests.

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