Unnecessary Antibiotics Put Seniors at Risk

Significant variation in patterns of antibiotic use from one part of the country to another may indicate that older people are being needlessly exposed to risks. The researchers reviewed data on antibiotic prescriptions from Medicare between 2007 and 2009. They report that significantly more people received antibiotics in the South than in other parts of the country, especially the West.
Not surprisingly, more people got antibiotics during the winter when pneumonia is more prevalent. Colds and other viral infections are also more common at that time of year, however, and the investigators worry that some of the antibiotics were being prescribed inappropriately for these conditions. Unnecessary antibiotics are especially troublesome when older people take them, because they are more vulnerable to side effects such as cognitive dysfunction from quinolones, Clostridium difficile infections from clindamycin and drug-drug interactions.
[Archives of Internal Medicine, online Sept. 24, 2012]