Overview

• A cross-sectional study in the Annals of Internal Medicine analyzed 22.4 million urgent care visits from 2018 to 2022 and found that 12.4% led to antibiotic fills, 9.1% to glucocorticoid fills and 1.3% to opioid fills.
• Antibiotics were prescribed in never-appropriate cases such as 30.7% of otitis media diagnoses and 15.0% of acute bronchitis visits.
• Glucocorticoids were given in 40.8% of acute bronchitis and 23.9% of sinusitis visits despite being generally inappropriate.
• Opioid prescriptions were common in conditions like abdominal pain and digestive symptoms (6.3%) and non-back musculoskeletal pain (4.6%) that carry little clinical justification.
• Researchers attribute these patterns to clinician knowledge gaps, patient demand and insufficient decision support and call for multifaceted stewardship programs to curb overuse.