Appropriateness of Antibiotic Prescribing in US Emergency Department Visits, 2016–2021

Abstract

In this national analysis of US emergency department visits with antibiotic prescribing during 2016–2021, 27.6% of visits resulted in inappropriate antibiotic prescribing: 14.9% had diagnosis codes plausibly antibiotic-related (eg, acute bronchitis), suggesting actual inappropriate prescribing, and 12.6% had diagnosis codes not plausibly antibiotic-related (eg, hypertension), suggesting poor coding quality.