Antibiotics prescription and guidelines adherence in elderly: impact of the comorbidities

Although the interest of antibiotics is well known, antibiotics prescription is associated with side effect, especially in patients with multiples comorbidities. One way to reduce the incidence of side effects is to respect antibiotics prescriptions guidelines. Our objective was to investigated the factors associated with guidelines adherence in elderly patients with multiples comorbidities.

From October 2015 to December 2016, antibiotics prescription and guidelines adherence were analyzed in two post-acute care and rehabilitation services of a 2600-bed, university-affiliated center.

One hundred and twenty-eight patients were included, fifty-nine (46%) patients had antibiotics prescription according to guidelines. In Multivariable logistic regression analysis, prescription of 2 antibiotics or more (OR = 0.168, 95% IC = 0.037-0.758, p < 0.05), 85 years of age and more (OR = 0.375, 95% IC = 0.151-0.931, p < 0.05) and the Charlson comorbidity index score (OR = 0.750, 95% IC = 0.572-0.984, p < 0.05) were negatively associated with antibiotics prescriptions according to guidelines.

High comorbidity in the elderly was negatively associated with the guidelines adherence of antibiotiсs prescriptions. These criteria should be considered to optimize antibiotics prescriptions in elderly patients.