Half of Antibiotics Given With No Infection Noted

After years of public health warnings about antibiotic misuse, a new study suggests the problem is far from being solved.

Researchers found that of more than 500,000 antibiotic prescriptions they analyzed, nearly half were written without an infection-related diagnosis. And about 20 percent were given without an office visit -- usually over the phone.

It's not clear how many of those prescriptions were actually inappropriate, said lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Linder, of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

His team looked at patient records, and "bad coding" could be part of the problem, Linder explained. He was referring to the system doctors use for recording diagnoses.

Still, the findings are concerning, Linder said.

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