In one year, 63% of 2,111 patients received antibiotics for respiratory infections during their hospital stay. As a result, 168 patients died within 30 days, with only 22 not prescribed antibiotics. After studying various factors including gender, age, severity of illness, and underlying conditions among patients, researchers found that those prescribed antibiotics during their hospital stay were more likely to die compared to patients who did not receive antibiotics.
The research team noted that those severely ill and those already suffering from health issues were more likely to receive antibiotics and die, suggesting that other factors such as smoking may also play a role.
In this context, the head of the research team, Dr. Margret Garlsdatter Hovind from Akershus University Hospital and the University of Oslo in Norway, emphasized that given the limitations imposed on any retrospective study like theirs, the clinical trial she recently initiated with her peers is crucial to determine whether patients admitted to the hospital with common respiratory infections should be treated with antibiotics.
She indicated that new data suggest there is a "significant overuse of antibiotics." The researchers investigated the impact of antibiotic use on survival in over 2,100 patients at a hospital in Norway between 2017 and 2021 and found that administering antibiotics to individuals with common respiratory infections would likely not reduce the risk of death within 30 days.
The study included patients confirmed to be infected through nasal or throat swabs for viral infections such as influenza or COVID-19, while those with confirmed bacterial infections were excluded. This research is scheduled to be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases next month in Copenhagen.
