Repeat prescribing linked to higher risk of admissions

The University of Manchester has discovered an association between the number of prescriptions for antibiotics and a higher risk of hospital admissions.

Published in BMC Medicine and funded by The National Institute for Health Research, the study is based on the data of two million patients across in England and Wales. It found that patients who have had nine or more antibiotic prescriptions for common infections in the previous three years are 2.26 times more likely to go to hospital with another infection in three or more months.

The patient records, from 2000 to 2016, covered common infections such as upper respiratory tract, urinary tract, ear and chest infections and excluded long term conditions such as cystic fibrosis and chronic lung disease. The risks of going to hospital with another infection were related to the number of the antibiotic prescriptions in the previous three years.

Furthermore, patients who had two antibiotic prescriptions were 1.23 times more likely, patients who had three to four prescriptions 1.33 times more likely and patients who had five to 8 1.77 times more likely to go to hospital with another infection.

Professor Tjeerd van Staa from The University of Manchester, said: “GPs care about their patients, and over recent years have worked hard to reduce the prescribing of antibiotics. But it is clear GPs do not have the tools to prescribe antibiotics effectively for common infections, especially when patients already have previously used antibiotics. They may prescribe numerous courses of antibiotics over a several years, which according to our study increases the risk of a more serious infection. That in turn, we show, is linked to hospital admissions.”