title: Antibiotic use: is appropriateness expensive?
abstract: Antibiotics are prone to misuse. In this study, 37% of 600 antibiotic prescriptions in three hospitals were considered unnecessary. When antibiotic therapy was indicated, 45% were considered to be inadequate. In multivariate analyses, the indicated treatments were found to be more expensive than the unjustified ones, probably because the latter were more often oral regimens. However, for indicated treatments, the cost of adequate and inadequate treatments did not differ significantly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Central Institute of the Valais Hospitals, Sion, Switzerland.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: von Gunten
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Reymond
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boubaker
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gerstel
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eckert
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lüthi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Troillet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents