Preschool children with community-acquired pneumonia often receive unnecessary tests and treatment at outpatient clinics and emergency departments, according to a nationally representative study led by Todd Florin, MD, MSCE, from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. While most cases of community-acquired pneumonia in young children are caused by viruses, for which antibiotics provide no benefit, antibiotics were prescribed in nearly 74 percent of outpatient visits. Chest x-rays were obtained in 43 percent of visits, despite guidelines against routine use for young children with pneumonia in an outpatient setting. Findings were published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
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