Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics in Pediatrics
A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Antibiotics Use and Antimicrobial Stewardship".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 92
Special Issue Editor
Interests: antimicrobial stewardship; health disparities; epidemiology; clinical decision making; diagnostic microbiology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue will collect all knowledge related to inappropriate prescriptions of antibiotics in pediatric patients. Prior research has shown that an estimated 20–50% of prescribed antibiotics are considered unnecessary. This pattern has been demonstrated in both inpatient and outpatient scenarios, though research has not focused solely on the pediatric population. Tribble and colleagues examined over 17,000 antibiotic orders among admitted pediatric patients from 32 hospitals and classified 21% of these orders as suboptimal/inappropriate [Clin Infect Dis; doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa036]. Nearly half of these suboptimal/inappropriate orders in that study would not have been routinely identified by antimicrobial stewardship programs. Diggs and colleagues conducted a similar study and reported that of the 13,000 antibiotic orders, 13.8% were considered inappropriate [Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol; doi:10.1017/ice.2023.56]. One key finding from this study was the substantial variation in inappropriate prescriptions by clinical service, including the highest levels of inappropriateness in PICU (19.4%) and surgical sub-specialty (22.5%) pediatric patients. A recent analysis of U.S. MarketScan commercial inpatient/outpatient pediatric claims data revealed that approximately 30% of the antibiotics used for bacterial infections and up to 70% of viral infections were considered inappropriate [JAMA Netw Open; doi:10/1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.14153]. More research is needed to not only fully understand the overall prevalence of inappropriate use, but also elucidate reasons for this inappropriateness, identify key drivers, and identify intervention opportunities.
Dr. Brian R. Lee
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- antimicrobial stewardship
- inappropriate antibiotic prescription
- antimicrobial resistance
- pediatrics
