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Commentary
General medicine
Antibiotic prescribing does not decrease complications in adult patients with lower respiratory tract infections
  1. Morten Lindbæk
  1. Department of General Practice, Antibiotic Centre for Primary Care, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  1. Correspondence to Dr Morten Lindbæk, Department of General Practice, Antibiotic Centre for Primary Care, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway; morten.lindbak{at}medisin.uio.no

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2017-110794

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    Commentry on: Little P, Stuart B, Smith S et al. Antibiotic prescription strategies and adverse outcome for uncomplicated lower respiratory tract infections: prospective cough complication cohort (3C) study. BMJ 2017;357:j2148.

    Context

    Many studies have shown overprescribing for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) despite a viral cause in most cases. There have been conflicting results as to complications, such as hospitalisation and death. Little and colleagues conducted a large prospective study in an attempt to answer these questions.1

    Methods

    This prospective study took place over 4 years and included patients with LRTIs: 28 779 adult patients from 522 UK general practices. General practitioners (GPs) used a standardised form, including sign symptoms and antibiotic prescribing, immediate, delayed or no prescribing. Observation time was 30 days. Outcome measures …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.