Antibiotic Prescribing for Cough and Symptoms of Respiratory Tract Infection
Do the Right Thing
- Mark H. Ebell, MD, MS
- Author Affiliation: College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
- Corresponding Author: Mark H. Ebell, MD, MS, Department of Family Medicine, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, B101 Clinical Center, East Lansing, MI 48824-1315 (ebell{at}msu.edu).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Cough is the third most common reason that patients present to physicians for care and was responsible for 3.2% of all outpatient visits in the United States in 2002.1 Of these visits, more than 30 million were made for a chief complaint of cough, at least 10 million of which were made by otherwise healthy adults diagnosed with acute bronchitis; most of these patients received an antibiotic prescription, often for a broad-spectrum macrolide or quinolone costing US $50 to $100.1-4
Although acute cough in healthy adults is common and treatment is a significant expense, the evidence on which treatment decisions are based is relatively limited; until recently, it consisted primarily of 9 studies with 750 patients, many performed a decade or more ago.5 A systematic review of these studies suggests a small benefit for antibiotics, with cough resolving about a half day sooner, balanced by …
