Antibiotics Prescription Only -- 32%
Symptomatic Medication Prescription Only -- 6%
Antibiotics and Symptomatic Medication -- 28%
Never Filled the Prescription -- 35%
While over one-third of the patients never bothered to get the antibiotic prescriptions filled, the 60 percent who did contributed to what the authors describe as a misuse of antibiotics by MDs, which, conservatively, is a $37.5 million annual expenditure in the U.S.
SOURCE: Mainous AG, Hueston WJ, Clark JR. Antibiotics and upper respiratory infection. J Fam Pract 1996; 42:357-361.
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