Antibiotic stewardship: where next?

INTRODUCTION

Over the last few years the headlines and news of an antibiotic apocalypse have been displaced by war and pandemic. However, the global challenge of antibiotic overuse and antimicrobial resistance remain unchanged.

This issue of the BJGP includes two contrasting articles on the topic.^1,2 The first, a further exploration of the potential benefits (or not) of prescribing antibiotics for children presenting with lower respiratory tract infection.¹ Limited information existed to guide prescribing before the publication of the ARTIC PC (Antibiotics for lower respiratory tract infection in children presenting in primary care) randomised controlled trial (RCT).³ RCTs are often criticised as not representing ‘routine practice’ because of restricted selection and intense follow up. In this article, participants enrolled to an observational study running alongside the randomised trial are included in a combined analysis, hence addressing some of those concerns and improving the generalisability of the findings. No substantial differences …