Researchers examined a nationally representative, annual CDC survey of U.S. emergency room visits for the study.
They found, around 25 percent of children with bronchiolitis under the age of 2 received antibiotics between 2007 and 2015. Of the children who received antibiotics, 70 percent had no documented bacterial infection, despite the fact that in 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued guidelines recommending antibiotic treatment not be used for bronchiolitis among children without a documented bacterial infection.
“Targeted interventions to reduce inappropriate prescribing among clinicians are essential,” said Brett Burstein, MD, PhD, of the Montreal Children’s Hospital and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada, and senior author of the study.
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