Antibiotic adherence in dermatologic surgery: a Multicenter prospective cohort study

• Published in: Archives of dermatological research Vol. 316; no. 5; p. 174
• Main Authors: Veerabagu, Surya A., Aizman, Leora, Cheng, Brian, Lee, Michael P, Barbieri, John S., Golda, Nicholas, Carrington, Alexis E., Mitevski, Allison Weinkle, Bittar, Peter, Carr, David R., Eisen, Daniel B., Somani, Ally-Khan, Miller, Christopher J., Sobanko, Joseph F., Shin, Thuzar M., Higgins II, H. William, Giordano, Cerrene N., Etzkorn, Jeremy R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 17.05.2024
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Anti-Bacterial Agents - administration & dosage; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Dermatologic Surgical Procedures - adverse effects; Dermatology; Female; Humans; Male; Medication Adherence - statistics & numerical data; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Original Paper; Prospective Studies; Surgical Wound Infection - epidemiology; Surgical Wound Infection - prevention & control; Surveys and Questionnaires - statistics & numerical data; United States; United States; Dermatologic surgery; Antibiotics; Antibiotic adherence; Antibiotic compliance
• ISSN: 1432-069X; 1432-069X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00403-024-02912-6

Understanding patient non-adherence to prescribed antibiotics can inform clinical practices, patient counseling, and antibiotic efficacy study design in dermatology. The primary objective was to determine the rate of and reasons for antibiotic non-adherence in the dermatologic surgery setting. The secondary objective was to test the applicability of previously studied survey questions for antibiotic non-adherence screening in the dermatologic surgery setting. Five academic outpatient dermatologic surgery centers across the United States conducted one multicenter prospective cohort study. Dermatologic surgery patients ≥ 18 years of age who were prescribed an antibiotic were included as part of this study. 15.2% (42/276) of patients did not adhere to their antibiotic regimen after dermatologic surgery. Most common reasons for incomplete antibiotic courses included forgotten antibiotics (42.9%,18/42) and side effects (28.6%, 12/42). Previously evaluated questions to identify and predict non-adherence had modest performance in the dermatologic surgery setting (Area under the curve of 0.669 [95% CI (0.583–0.754)]). Antibiotic non-adherence after skin surgery is prevalent and commonly due to reasons that physicians can address with patients.