Over a quarter of US adults and caregivers report lying to clinicians to get antibiotic prescriptions, according to two studies published Friday in JAMA Network Open. The team was led by Alistair Thorpe at the University of Utah.
The researchers analyzed responses from 959 valid, complete online surveys. Of those, 268 respondents (28 percent) said they had misrepresented symptoms to get antibiotics. Another 63 of 263 caregivers (27 percent) said they had misrepresented a child's symptoms. Most lied by exaggerating symptoms, making them up, or doing both.
The most common falsehoods involved cold-related symptoms such as fever, cough, and sore throat. Colds are caused by viruses, which antibiotics do not treat. Reported by 65 percent of dishonest patients, cold-related symptoms were the most frequent misrepresentation. Stomach symptoms followed at 49 percent, then joint or muscle pain at 46 percent.
Respondents said the lies usually worked. The studies report that 77 percent of adult patients and 87 percent of caregivers received the prescriptions they wanted.
Jeffrey Linder of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine wrote an accompanying commentary. He said that of eight symptom categories patients could have exaggerated or invented, only urinary symptoms clearly justify antibiotic prescribing. He also said the lies may erode trust between clinicians and patients. The study authors wrote that the findings "signal a significant issue for health professionals making antibiotic prescribing decisions and for the fields of antimicrobial stewardship and public health."
The report also links antibiotic misuse to drug resistance. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released this week found that drug-resistant bacteria and fungi cause 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the US each year.