Antibiotic orders declining, but battle against overuse not done

A new report documents significant reductions in prescriptions for children, but more vigilance is necessary.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. June 6, 2005.

When Allan Lieberthal, MD, a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City, Calif., writes a prescription for an antibiotic, his patients' parents frequently question whether it's really necessary.

This response is a far cry from that what was typical a decade ago.

"Before, if I didn't prescribe antibiotics, the [parents] would complain," said Dr. Lieberthal, who is also co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians' subcommittee on management of acute otitis media, which issued a practice guideline in 2004 to reduce antibiotic misuse for this complaint.

That patients' parents are increasingly less eager for an antibiotic prescription is not a phenomenon limited to Dr. Lieberthal's office. This trend, combined with doctors' hesitancy to write such scripts, is leading to decreases in antibiotic use that are starting to be reflected in national data.

In April, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a report that found use of these drugs by those 14 or younger had decreased markedly from 1996 to 2001. Parents also were less likely to take children to the doctor for minor infections.

Experts credit this success to years of aggressive campaigns from public health agencies and medical societies.