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In this cross-sectional study, researchers analyzed a representative sample of 28,000 outpatient visits to U.S. healthcare providers in 2015 to determine how often antibiotics are prescribed appropriately (i.e., a condition for which antibiotics are indicated was documented), inappropriately (i.e., a condition, such as upper respiratory infection, for which antibiotics are not indicated but are commonly prescribed was documented), or without documented indication (i.e., neither of the previous categories were applicable).
Antibiotics were prescribed in 13% of visits. The researchers found that 57% of prescriptions were appropriate, 25% were for inappropriate indications, and 18% lacked documented indications. Extrapolating to nearly 1 billio…