UCL in the News: Doctors doing more harm than good 'by misusing antibiotics'

A survey shows that antibiotics are being prescribed for up to 80 per cent of cases of sore throat, earache, chest infection and sinusitis, in spite of official guidance against this practice. …

Dr Irene Petersen and Dr Andrew Hayward [UCL Priomary Care & Population Science] used the NHS General Practice Research Database to investigate the issue. …

In the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy they report that many conditions for which antibiotics are most often prescribed are predominantly caused by viruses. …

Regular analysis of the data should be carried out to monitor trends in GP prescribing, which are known to have levelled off since 2001, the authors suggest. …

"Although a third of the public still believe that antibiotics work against coughs and colds, simply getting the public to believe otherwise may not be enough to reduce the level of prescribing," the authors say. "We have shown that those with greater knowledge about antibiotics are no less likely to be prescribed an antibiotic."

Nigel Hawkes, 'The Times'