Home · Health · Nov 13 archive
Patients Misrepresent Symptoms to Obtain Antibiotics
· Confirmed
In Short: A recent survey published in JAMA Network Open found that 28% of adult respondents and 27% of caregivers misrepresented symptoms to obtain antibiotics for themselves or their children.
A recent survey published in JAMA Network Open found that 28% of adult respondents and 27% of caregivers misrepresented symptoms to obtain antibiotics for themselves or their children.
Participants cited feeling very sick, believing antibiotics were the only solution, and wanting to return to responsibilities faster as reasons for misrepresentation.
Among those who misrepresented symptoms, 43.1% said they learned how to do so from personal experience, while 34.5% cited advice from friends or family.
Of the 959 adults surveyed, 268 (27.9%) reported ever misrepresenting their symptoms, with 108 exaggerating symptoms, 19 fabricating symptoms, and 141 doing both.
Similarly, of the 236 caregivers surveyed, 63 (26.7%) reported ever misrepresenting a child’s symptoms, with 24.2% exaggerating actual symptoms, 23.6% fabricating symptoms, and 19.1% doing both.
Gregory House, the fictional physician from the TV series House, would likely see through such tactics, but for most physicians, it is difficult to discern whether a patient is faking or exaggerating symptoms.
Outpatient care accounts for most antibiotic use in the United States, with about 255.9 million prescriptions issued each year.
When the analysis was limited to peer-reviewed, published trials, there was a 98.6% probability that cefepime was associated with higher mortality, representing approximately one additional death for every 111 patients treated.
What this adds
This report adds new details about the prevalence and reasons for misrepresenting symptoms to obtain antibiotics, as well as the potential consequences of unnecessary antibiotic use.
Background
A recent survey published in JAMA Network Open revealed that 28% of adult respondents and 27% of caregivers misrepresented symptoms to obtain antibiotics for themselves or their children.
What's confirmed
- The surveys, published last week in JAMA Network Open, found that 28% of adult respondents reported misrepresenting their symptoms in order to obtain antibiotics for an illness at some point, while 27% of caregivers did the same to get antibiotics for their child.
- Participants cited several reasons for misrepresenting their symptoms, including that they felt very sick (62.2%), thought antibiotics were the only thing that would help them (61.8%), were worried they might develop a serious infection (53.6%), and thought antibiotics would help them get back to their responsibilities faster (61%).
- Many who misrepresented symptoms (43.1%) said they figured out what to say to get antibiotics from their own personal experience, while 34.5% cited advice from friends or family.
- Of the 959 adults (mean age, 50.7 years; 49.8% female) who responded to the first survey, 268 (27.9%) reported ever misrepresenting their symptoms to get antibiotics, with 108 (40.3%) saying they exaggerated symptoms, 19 (7.1%) saying they fabricated symptoms, and 141 (52.6%) doing both.
- Of the 236 caregivers (mean age, 41.7 years; 51.7% female) who responded, 63 (26.7%) reported ever misrepresenting a child’s symptoms to obtain antibiotics, with 24.2% exaggerating actual symptoms, 23.6% fabricating symptoms, and 19.1% doing both.
What's still developing
- According to the 2020 CENSIS report, 15% of Italians explicitly asked for antibiotics.
- In addition to reducing the risk for missed diagnoses and delayed treatment, this approach helps preserve the trust that is essential to the physician-patient relationship.
- This is particularly relevant ahead of European Antibiotic Awareness Day, which is observed annually on or around November to promote the prudent use of antibiotics and raise awareness about antimicrobial resistance.
- Unnecessary prescribing exposes patients to adverse effects, allergic reactions, and Clostridioides difficile infection, and it accelerates antimicrobial resistance.
- Earlier research has shown that patients sometimes knowingly withhold or alter information, but little is known about the prevalence of deliberate misrepresentation of symptoms by US adults specifically to obtain antibiotics.
- From feeling ignored by doctors to believing antibiotics are the only answer, new research reveals why some patients bend the truth to get prescriptions, and what this could mean for antibiotic resistance.
- Cifu wrote a prescription for antibiotics and sent her home.
- After multiple relapses, patients are often treated with fecal microbiota transfer, commonly called a stool transplant.
- The procedure is complex and unpleasant for many patients, creating a need for treatments that control the infection while limiting further disruption of the gut’s microbes.
- Broad-spectrum antibiotics can disrupt the gut’s microbial community, allowing a bacterium already living there to multiply unchecked.
- In 2012, the FDA warned about a risk of seizures among patients receiving Maxipime, particularly nonconvulsive status epilepticus, a potentially life-threatening neurological complication.
- Instead, they said the potential mortality signal should be considered when determining how the antibiotic is used in clinical practice, particularly given concerns about both inadequate drug exposure and neurotoxicity at higher doses.