Older Emergency Department Patients Are More Likely to Fail Therapy for Abscesses

A recent large randomized trial showed that antibiotics are beneficial in the treatment of cutaneous abscesses, contradicting prior findings from multiple small studies (NEJM JW Emerg Med Apr 2016 and N Engl J Med 2016; 374:823). However, the benefit of antibiotics was modest, prompting the question of whether some patient subsets might benefit more than others.

To determine whether older patients are more likely to fail therapy, investigators retrospectively reviewed charts for 572 adult patients treated for abscess and discharged from one of four emergency departments (EDs). Follow-up data were available for 467 patients (82%), of whom 35 were aged 65 or older. Overall, 23% of patients did not undergo incision and drainage during the index…