A recent study published in Health Affairs by researchers with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has found that nearly 45% of antibiotics prescribed over a 10-year period were given out for no clear reason and were not associated with a visit to a physician.
According to the study, between 2004 and 2013, “among 298 million antibiotic fills (62 percent for children) for 53 million patients, 55 percent were for clinician visits with an infection-related diagnosis, 17 percent were for clinician visits without an infection-related diagnosis, and 28 percent were not associated with a visit.”