1 in 5 adults are hospitalized with antibiotic side effects

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that one in five adult hospitalized patients is at risk of side effects from antibiotics.

To reach this conclusion, the research team conducted a survey of 1,488 people who have been hospitalized for care at Johns Hopkins Hospital from September 2013 to June 2014. And most of them were treated for at least 24 hours of antibiotics after 30 days and monitored any side effects from antibiotics.

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Dr. Pranita Tamma, assistant professor of pediatrics and director of the research team said: "Usually, clinicians prescribe antibiotics even if they suspect infection, although antibiotics may not be necessary, but they may not cause side effects' .

However, this is not always true. Antibiotics are likely to cause real harm to patients who do not necessarily or overuse antibiotics. More or less of them have suffered side effects. So, a problem is to consider whether the patient needs to use antibiotics?

The study, published in the Internal Medicine Journal JAMA, shows that about 20% of patients taking antibiotics with one or more times of side effects and 10 days of taking antibiotics increase the risk of side effects by up to 3%. .

Among the most common side effects, 42% of participants had abnormal gastrointestinal symptoms, 24% of kidney abnormalities and 15% of chronic symptoms.

Participants were followed up to 90 days to treat Clostridium difficile infections. And 4% of patients had multiple drug resistance, 4% risk of C. difficile disease and 6% of patients developed multi-antibiotic body infections.

Most importantly, 19% of antibiotics prescribed to patients are considered clinically unnecessary.

'In general, we hope that our hospital can keep the number of antibiotic side effects lower than other hospitals and facilities because we have been implementing optimization policies. health care and treatment for patients with the right antibiotics at the right time and considering whether or not to use them and whether or not to use alternative methods. ' - Dr. Sara Cosgrove, associate professor of medicine The Johns Hopkins Hospital director said in a statement.