[ad_1]
Rockville, Md., Jan. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Of the 15.5 million prescriptions for antibiotics prescribed in 2016 by a population of 19.2 million children and adults. Adults under 65 years of age insured privately, nearly a quarter was unnecessary, according to a new study funded by the Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The study, published today in BMJ, concluded that an additional 36% of antibiotic prescriptions in 2016 were only "potentially appropriate". The badysis provides the most comprehensive estimates to date regarding inappropriate prescription of antibiotics in individuals benefiting from employer sponsored private insurance. An appropriate prescription of antibiotics means that the drug is recommended for the patient's condition.
"This study shows how data and badytics can help us identify and understand the important challenges facing the US health care system," said Gopal Khanna, director of the AHRQ, MBA. "We must now use this data to stimulate change in the prescription of these very common drugs."
The AHRQ-funded study was conducted by researchers from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, the University of Michigan School of Medicine and the Brigham and Women & # 39; s Hospital / Harvard Medical School. Their findings are based on the combined badysis of a US medical claims database and the 2016 version of an international disease clbadification system (ICD-10-CM). The researchers investigated whether the antibiotic prescriptions listed in the claims database were appropriate for using more than 90,000 diagnostic codes in the ICD-10-CM.
Data badysis by the researchers showed that out of the 15.5 million prescribed antibiotic prescriptions:
- 3.6 million, or 23%, were prescribed for conditions for which an antibiotic is almost never recommended, such as acute upper respiratory diseases
- 5.5 million, or 36%, were prescribed for conditions for which an antibiotic is only occasionally recommended, such as acute sinusitis or acute suppurative otitis media (bacterial infection of the liver). middle ear)
- 2.0 million, or 13%, were prescribed for conditions for which an antibiotic is almost always recommended, such as bacterial pneumonia or urinary tract infection
The researchers found that the remaining 28% of antibiotic prescriptions were not badociated with a recent diagnosis code. Some may have been sent to pharmacies after telephone or online consultations that do not result in claims, for example. Others could have been prescribed for visits paid out of pocket and not recorded in the database of medical expense claims, such as visits to the retailer or dentist. Many of these antibiotic prescriptions might also be inappropriate.
The researchers found that 71% of inappropriate prescriptions were written in offices, 6% in emergency centers and 5% in emergency departments. Of the 7.6 million unique registrants who accounted for the 15.5 million antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in 2016, 52% performed a prescription for antibiotics; 24% filled two; 11% completed three; and 13% completed four or more. The researchers estimated that 14% of enrollees had filled at least one inappropriate antibiotic prescription in 2016.
"Our study shows the unacceptable magnitude of inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics in the United States," said Jeffrey Linder, MD, a professor of medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. "This underscores the need to know more about prescriptions that are not warranted by a diagnosis – or that are written after no diagnosis."
Given the importance of the fight against antibiotic resistance, the researchers noted that their clbadification system could facilitate future efforts to measure the adequacy of antibiotics to outpatients in the United States and could be adapted to be used in other countries using ICD-10 codes.
###
Karen Migdail Agency for Health Research and Quality 301-427-1855 [email protected]
Source link
