Surveys newly published in JAMA Network Open found that nearly a third of patients misrepresented either their or their child’s symptoms to receive antibiotics. CIDRAP has the news.
28% of adult respondents reported misrepresenting their symptoms to obtain antibiotics for an illness at some point, and 27% of caregivers did the same to get antibiotics for their child. This included exaggerating symptoms, making up symptoms, or both. People who did this were more likely to report they feel like clinicians don’t take their symptoms seriously.
The two online surveys involved asking participants whether they had exaggerated symptoms by telling a healthcare provider the symptoms were worse, or lasting longer, than they actually were. The second asked whether they had ever fabricated symptoms.
Of the 959 adults who responded to the first survey, 27.9% reported ever misrepresenting their symptoms to get antibiotics. Cold-like symptoms were most frequently misrepresented. The reasons they cited for doing so included feeling very sick, thinking antibiotics were the only thing that would help them, fear of developing a serious infection, or thinking antibiotics would help them more quickly get back to their responsibilities. Findings from the caregiver survey were similar.
An accompanying commentary noted that, of the eight categories listed in the surveys for which patients could misrepresent symptoms, only one (urinary symptoms) was a clear justification for antibiotics.
