Michael J Durkin, Katheryn Ney, Noah Chodos, Alice Bewley, Priscilla Kabutey, George Turabelidze, M Cristina Vazquez Guillamet, John Sahrmann, Corey Lance, Roger Cole, Sena Sayood, Tracey Habrock-Bach, Kevin Hseuh
Approximately 30% of U.S. outpatient antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. Using 2016-2022 MarketScan data, this study assessed Missouri outpatient prescribing. Among several bacterial infections, 62.4% were inappropriate; antibiotics were prescribed for 18.3% of viral infections. Inappropriate prescribing was higher in rural areas. This method can assess regional condition-specific antibiotic stewardship targets.