Inpatient Antibiotic Exposure Is Associated with Adverse Events

Administering antibiotics to hospitalized patients sometimes is unnecessary and results in no benefit but potential harm. In this retrospective study of adults who received at least 24 hours of parenteral or oral antibiotic therapy in a U.S. academic inpatient general medicine service, researchers assessed 30-day adverse event rates by organ system and 90-day Clostridium difficile or multidrug-resistant infections. Two infectious diseases physicians or pharmacists assessed appropriateness of antibiotic therapy.

Of 1488 patients, 20% experienced at least one antibiotic-associated adverse event, most of which were clinically important; 27% of these events occurred after hospital discharge. About 20% of antibiotic courses were deemed not clinic…