More Than 70% of Antibiotic Prescriptions for Sinus Infections Exceed Recommended Duration

A new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association: Internal Medicine reports that primary care physicians prescribe longer durations of antibiotics for sinus infections than clinical practice guidelines recommend. In addition, more than 20% of antibiotic prescriptions for sinus infections were for five days of azithromycin, even though guidelines recommend against prescribing azithromycin because of high rates of existing resistance to this drug and others in its class.