Racial Disparities in Unnecessary Prescribing of Antibiotics in Pediatric Emergency Departments

Racial and ethnic disparities in antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract infection were recently described in nonemergency primary care settings. To determine whether these disparities occur in the pediatric emergency department (PED) care setting, researchers retrospectively examined approximately 40,000 PED visits by children discharged for viral acute respiratory tract infection.

The primary outcome measure was any administration of antibiotics in the PED or a prescription for antibiotics upon discharge. Children with bacterial codiagnoses, chronic disease, or immunocompromising conditions were excluded. Race and ethnicity were collapsed into a single variable and categorized as Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black,…