Many PCPs Prescribe Antibiotics for Pneumonia Even With Negative Chest X-Ray

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 4, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Many general practitioners prescribe antibiotics for suspected community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) even when chest radiograph (CR) results are negative, according to a study published in the November/December issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Juliette Pinot, M.D., from the Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, and colleagues analyzed antibiotic initiation by general practitioners for patients with suspected CAP according to CR. The analysis included 259 patients.

The researchers found that 55.6 percent had a positive CR. Higher clinical severity was seen in patients with positive versus negative CR, with longer-lasting symptoms. Antibiotics were initiated for 99.3 percent of patients with positive CR and 68.7 percent with negative CR. Among the 115 CR-negative patients, there were no clinically relevant characteristics that were significantly different between those for whom antibiotics were and were not initiated. 

“For patients with suspected CAP, general practitioners systematically took into account results of positive CRs to initiate antibiotics and took much less account of negative CRs,” the authors write. “These results justify clarification of what should be done in cases of clinical suspicion of CAP without radiologic confirmation.”

Abstract/Full Text