Antibiotic use among older adults on an acute care general surgery service.

Background: Antibiotics play an important role in the treatment of many surgical diseases that affect older adults, and the potential for inappropriate use of these drugs is high. Our objective was to describe antibiotic use among older adults admitted to an acute care surgery service at a tertiary care teaching hospital.

Methods: Detailed data regarding diagnosis, comorbidities, surgery and antibiotic use were retrospectively collected for patients 70 years and older admitted to an acute care surgery service.