Low-value care for acute sinusitis encounters: who's choosing wisely?

To assess acute sinusitis (AS) encounters in primary care (PC), urgent care (UC), and emergency department (ED) settings for adherence to recommendations to avoid low-value care.

A retrospective, observational study of adult AS encounters (2010-2012) within a large integrated healthcare system.

We compared ED and UC encounters with PC visits, adjusting for differences in patient characteristics.

adherence to recommendations to avoid antibiotics and a computed tomography (CT) scan of the face, head, or sinuses.

length of symptoms and adherence with AS recommendations.

Of 152,774 AS encounters, 89.2% resulted in antibiotics and 1.1% resulted in a CT scan. Compared with PC encounters, ED encounters were less likely to result in antibiotics (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.57; 95% CI, 0.50-0.65) but more likely to result in a CT scan (AOR, 59.4; 95% CI, 51.3-68.7), while UC encounters were more likely to result in both antibiotics (AOR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.08-1.17) and CT imaging (AOR, 2.4; 95% CI, 2.1-2.7). Chart review of encounters resulting in antibiotics found that 50% were inappropriately prescribed for symptoms of ≤7 days' duration (95% CI, 41%-58%), while 35% were appropriately prescribed for symptoms of ≥14 days' duration (95% CI, 27%-44%). Only 29% (95% CI, 22%-36%) of encounters were consistent with guideline-adherent care.

AS encounters in an integrated health system infrequently result in CT imaging, but antibiotic treatment is common. Differences exist across acute care settings, but improved antibiotic stewardship is needed in all settings.