Antibiotics Prescribed for Sore Throats Unnecessary

An increase in antibiotic prescriptions can often create an immunity to different strains of treatments. In fact, a new study by researchers from Harvard University shows that doctors who continue to prescribe antibiotics for various conditions, particularly sore throats and bronchitis, are generally unnecessary.

"For sore throat, antibiotics should be prescribed about 10 percent of the time," the study author, Dr. Jeffrey Linder said according to WebMD. He is a researcher in the divison of general medicine and primary care at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. "The story for bronchitis is even more bleak."

Researchers calculated the frequency of prescribing antibiotics for sore throats and bronchitis. They examined data from 39 million adults who had bronchitis and 92 million adults with sore throats. These patients were then seen by a primary care physician or via the emergency room between 1996 and 2010. The team found that primary care visits for sore throats declined from 7.5 percent in 1997 to 4.2 percent in 2010. For bronchitis, the team also found that emergency department visits increased from 1.1 million in 1996 to 3.4 million in 2010.

Findings showed that doctors had prescribed antibiotics for patients 60 percent of the time. From 1990 to the present, the use of these medications for sore throats only fell by 10 percent. For bronchitis, doctors prescribed antibiotic treatment 73 percent of the time. However the team stated that the antibiotics could not be used to treat bronchitis due to its ineffectiveness. Yet over the past three decades, the prescription rate has not dwindled according to various reports.

Researchers believe this may be due to the fact that researchers ask for antibiotics and doctors simply comply with patients with requests.

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via JAMA Internal Medicine.