Unnecessary antibiotics for children with asthma
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.Doctors are much more likely to prescribe antibiotics to children with asthma than to children without the condition. This can harm the little patient.
Even doctors often find it difficult to differentiate between asthma children: Is the spontaneous deterioration in respiratory function due to asthma or is it caused by pneumonia? Many doctors prescribe antibiotics to be on the safe side in such a case. But this decision is often wrong.
In comparison to children with healthy lungs, doctors prescribe antibiotics to children with asthma 1.6 times as often, researchers led by Dr. Esmé Baan from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. This was true of both young patients in the Netherlands and children in the UK.
As part of the study, the scientists evaluated the data of 1.5 million children from Great Britain - including 150,000 with asthma, and another 375,000 from the Netherlands, including 30,000 children with asthma.
Insidious risk of confusion
"If it suddenly worsens, asthma symptoms can easily be confused with those of a respiratory infection," says study leader Baan.
Another possible reason for unnecessary prescriptions is that the antibiotics are being prescribed as a preventive measure, although the treatment guidelines do not support such an approach. If the symptoms of asthma worsen, antibiotics should only be given in exceptional cases, as these are very rarely associated with a bacterial infection
Grow resistant germs
Any unnecessary use of antibiotics is problematic in many ways. The most serious disadvantage: it encourages the development of resistant germs, which are then difficult to control. The consequences can also hit those who take the antibiotics. If resistant germs do no harm to himself, he can pass them on - and they spread to other lungs.
Children without asthma also take antibiotics too often
A comparison of countries shows a major difference, however: in Great Britain, antibiotics are generally prescribed to children almost twice as often as in the Netherlands. This indicates that children without asthma in the UK are also receiving antibiotics far more often than is reasonable.
Respiratory infections in particular are much more likely to be caused by a virus infection; bacteria are much less likely to be the cause. But antibiotics are not effective against viruses. Whether you have asthma or not, antibiotics should only be given if they can help.
