The rise of antibiotic resistance is more closely related to occasional antibiotic use by many people, rather than repeated use among fewer individuals, according to a study published in eLife.
For the study, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston examined antibiotic use among 60 million Americans using 2011-14 data from Truven Health MarketScan Research Database and Medicare. They compared this information with 2012-15 data from ResistanceOpen, a database that tracks antibiotic resistance. In total, researchers assessed 72 pairs of antibiotics and bacteria to see if antibiotic prescription rates correlated with resistance.
In 2011, 34 percent of people received antibiotics, with 10 percent of the population using 57 percent of the antibiotics. Researchers discovered a similar distribution for every year included in the study. They also found a link between increased antibiotic use and heightened resistance.
Low-intensity, occasional antibiotic use had a stronger influence on resistance rates than intense use by fewer people, according to the researchers.
"Our findings suggest that combatting inappropriate antibiotic use among people who don't take many antibiotics may be just as important, or more important, to fighting resistance than focusing on high-intensity users," lead author Scott Olesen, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard's department of immunology and infectious diseases, said in a press release. "More antibiotic use generally means more antibiotic resistance, but it seems like the number of people taking antibiotics might matter more than the amount they're taking."
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