If you went to a doctor for it, get a second opinion, study finds

When it comes to our health, most of us look to medical professionals for the best treatment without questioning their methods or measures. But your doctor is only a human and may not always be right. A new study has found a significant gap between doctors treating a particular health problem – meaning patients seeking medical help for that common problem might want to get a second opinion, just in case. Read on to find out which health issue needs monitoring, and for the most up-to-date health information, This One Thing can help you reduce your body weight by 20%.

Researchers studied the insurance claims of 670,400 women aged 18 to 44 who were diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (UTI) between April 2011 and June 2015, publishing their results on February 24 in the journal. Infection control and hospital epidemiology. According to the study, nearly 47% of prescriptions dispensed were incorrect or “inappropriate according to clinical guidelines.” According to those guidelines, the study researchers classified fluoroquinolones and beta-lactams as inappropriate antibiotics. “Inappropriate prescription of antibiotics is quite common for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections,” the researchers concluded. And for more urinary problems, if your urine is anything other than these colors, call your doctor.

Not only were the wrong antibiotics often prescribed, the researchers also found that most prescriptions were written for the wrong lengths, even if an appropriate antibiotic was prescribed. According to the study, 76% of patients were prescribed treatments for the wrong length of time. Doctors were more likely to prescribe antibiotics longer than medically necessary, not longer. And for more health concerns, check out the surprising thing your earwax says about your health, study finds.

Anne Mobley Butler, PhD, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine and surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, said in a statement that incorrect prescriptions of antibiotics for UTIs have “serious consequences. at the level of patients and society ”. According to a 2019 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a person in the United States dies every 15 minutes from an infection that has become resistant to antibiotics.

“There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that patients do better when we change the prescription of broad-acting antibiotics to narrow-spectrum, longer-lasting to shorter-lasting antibiotics,” said Butler. “Promoting optimal antimicrobial use benefits the patient and society by preventing preventable adverse events, microbiome disruption, and antibiotic-resistant infections.” And for more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter.

This study is particularly relevant for most of the female population, as the likelihood that you will have at least one UTI in your life is high. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 50% of adult women report having one or more urinary tract infections in their lifetime. Symptoms of a UTI, according to the CDC, can include “pain or a burning sensation when urinating, frequent urination, the need to urinate despite an empty bladder, bloody urine, and pressure or cramps in the blood. groin or lower abdomen ”. And for more CDC advice, you should know, if your grocery store doesn’t have this, don’t go inside, says CDC.

Researchers suggest that more intervention measures are needed so that doctors are less likely to prescribe inappropriate antibiotics or antibiotic durations. This would include “establishing personal and political commitment to change, communicating progress and improving education on best practices”, particularly in rural settings where the prescription of antibiotics for urinary tract infections is more likely to be incorrect. The study explains that rural patients were more likely to have been “diagnosed by family physicians, pediatricians or non-physicians” rather than by physicians in internal medicine or obstetrics / gynecology (OBGYN), which can explain the lack of knowledge about the practices. And for more health advice, if you are taking this common drug, talk to a doctor before your vaccine.