Trends in pediatric antibiotic therapy show 43 percent of all antibiotic therapy goes to surgical patients, while 10 percent of all antibiotic therapy is used for four main conditions, according to research published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Researchers studied antibiotic administration data for more than 500,000 children at 32 children's hospitals during 2010.
They found the four highest-using conditions were pneumonia, appendicitis, cystic fibrosis and skin and soft-tissue infection, which make up 1 percent of all conditions but account for 10 percent of all pediatric antibiotic administration. Surgical patients received 43 percent of all antibiotic therapy.
Antibiotic administration in most cases was highly variable, according to the article.
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