Black and senior patients are more likely to be overprescribed antibiotics, according to a new study of 7 billion trips to healthcare centers — findings that doctors say warrant a further look into unequal prescription practices.
Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center found that 64% of antibiotic prescriptions to Black patients and 74% to patients 65 and older were deemed inappropriate. White patients, meanwhile, received prescriptions that were deemed inappropriate 56% of the time.
Most of those prescriptions were written for conditions like nonbacterial skin problems, viral respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis — none of which can be treated with antibiotics.
The study — which used data from visits to US doctors' offices, hospitals, and emergency departments — will be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon, Portugal, this weekend.
Researchers also found that 58% of antibiotic prescriptions to patients with a Hispanic or Latin American background were also not appropriate for use.
"Our results suggest that Black and [Hispanic/Latino] patients may not be properly treated and are receiving antibiotic prescriptions even when not indicated," researcher Eric Young, PharmD, said in a news release.
Doctors typically will prescribe an antibiotic if they fear a patient's symptoms may lead to an infection, Young said.
