Researchers assessed antibiotic prescriptions on a single day in spring (May 3, 2017), summer (Aug. 2, 2017), fall (Oct. 25, 2017) and winter (Jan. 31, 2018), at 51 freestanding U.S. children’s hospitals participating in the Pediatric Health Information System.
Of 52,769 total hospitalized children, slightly more than 36 percent received antibiotics on the study day, and of these, 12.5 percent received broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Antibiotic use varied across hospitals from 22.3 percent to 51.9 percent, and antibiotics were prescribed for 47.7 percent of surgery patients across hospitals.
Among hospital department units, antibiotic use was most prevalent among pediatric intensive care unit patients, with 58.3 percent of patients receiving antibiotics. Of those, 26.6 percent received broad-spectrum antibiotics.
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