Episodic oral antibiotic use in CF: Discordance between the electronic medical record and self-report.

Background: Accurate accounting of antibiotic use is necessary for studies comparing the CF airway microbiota across clinically relevant disease states. While poor adherence to chronic therapies is well described for individuals with CF, use patterns of episodic oral antibiotics are less clear.

Methods: Eleven individuals with CF completed daily questionnaires regarding antibiotic use for a mean of 458days. Self-report of episodic oral antibiotic use was compared to antibiotic prescription data in the electronic medical record (EMR).

Results: Self-reported use of episodic oral antibiotics differed from EMR data an average of 8.3% of days per subject. The majority of these discrepancies were due to self-reported use of oral antibiotics outside of the EMR-documented dates of antibiotic prescription.

Conclusions: Discrepancies exist between self-reported use of episodic oral antibiotics and EMR data that have implications for studies of the CF airway microbiota.