title: Antibiotic prescribing for acute bronchitis.
abstract: Acute bronchitis is a self-limiting infectious disease characterized by acute cough with or without sputum but without signs of pneumonia. About 90% of cases are caused by viruses.
  
  
  
  Antibiotics for acute bronchitis have been associated with an approximately half-day reduction in duration of cough. However, at follow-up there are no significant differences in overall clinical improvement inpatients treated with antibiotics compared with those receiving placebo. Despite this, antibiotics are administered to approximately two thirds of these patients. This review discusses the reason for this antibiotic overprescription. Other therapies targeted to control symptoms have also demonstrated a marginal or no effect. Expert commentary: Clinicians should be aware of the marginal effectiveness of antibiotic therapy. Some strategies like the use of rapid tests, delayed prescribing of antibiotics and the use of leaflets for patients have been associated with a reduction of their unnecessary utilization.
authors.affiliation: a Primary Health Centre Via Roma , University Institute in Primary Care Research Jordi Gol, Barcelona , Spain.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Llor
authors.affiliation: b Department of Public Health, Section of General Practice and Research Unit for General Practice , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bjerrum
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D057970:Inappropriate Prescribing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: Acute bronchitis; acute cough; antibiotics; treatment