Some patients take antibiotics without a doctor's prescription, a practice that may not help cure their illness and could lead to more antibiotic-resistant germs, a new study found.
More than 23,000 deaths are caused by antibiotic resistance each year and an estimated 2 million Americans are host to antibiotic-resistant pathogens, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, patients undergoing even routine surgeries can fall prey to fatal infections.
That’s why researchers set out to determine how many people take or plan to take antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription. Their findings, revealed in a study published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, show that 5 percent of patients reported taking antibiotics without prescriptions during the previous year--and 25 percent said they were willing to take antibiotics if possible without contacting a medical professional. An additional 14 percent reported that they had antibiotics in their homes--generally due to leftover prescriptions.
Researchers surveyed 400 people in waiting rooms at three primary care practices in the Houston area last year. Two of the clinics catered primarily to uninsured or underinsured patients, whereas the third clinic served mostly managed care and privately insured patients.
“This kind of inappropriate use is very risky,” Larissa Grigoryan, M.D., an instructor at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine and co-author of the study, told Kaiser Health News. “If you use antibiotics irresponsibly like this then resistance rates will increase.”
Patients who opt to take non-prescribed antibiotics might be trying to avoid paying a co-pay, Grigoryan told KHN. Another reason could be lack of access to adequate transportation, she added.