US Doctors Prescribe Unnecessary Antibiotics

A latest study by Brigham and Women's Hospital reveals that most U.S. doctors prescribe antibiotics even if it is not needed.

The researchers analysed data of 39 billion bronchitis cases and 92 million sore throat cases that were a part of the national representative surveys from 1996 to 2010. The results showed that the rate of prescription of antibiotics in the country was 60 percent.

Antibiotics are prescribed for strep throat. Conditions such as sore throat and acute bronchitis cannot be treated with antibiotics.

"We know that antibiotic prescribing, particularly to patients who are not likely to benefit from it, increases the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a growing concern both here in the United States and around the world," said Jeffrey Linder, , a physician and researcher in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at BWH and senior author of the study.

"Our research shows that while only 10 percent of adults with sore throat have strep, the only common cause of sore throat requiring antibiotics, the national antibiotic prescribing rate for adults with sore throat has remained at 60 percent. For acute bronchitis, the right antibiotic prescribing rate should be near zero percent and the national antibiotic prescribing rate was 73 percent," Linder said in a news release.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the problem of microbes becoming more resistant to a drug is across the world.