Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Abuse and its Connection to Obesity

Abstract

The purpose of this review was to assess patterns of antibiotic prescriptions across the United States and evaluate their relationship with associated conditions. A focus on national antibiotic prescriptions and proposed side effects was studied from 1993-2008. State-to-state differences in antibiotic prescribing and associated patterns of obesity were studied from 2011-2014. Data for these study periods was extracted from the CDC and affiliated institutions. Correlation assessments between antibiotic prescription patterns and a set of variables related to the proposed mechanism of antibiotic effects were made. From 2011-2014, cephalosporin prescriptions demonstrated the strongest relationship with associated obesity rates, while beta-lactams (cephalosporins and penicillins) showed weaker relationships when taken as a holistic class. To make light of these results, drug use of Ceftriaxone, a broad-spectrum, third-generation cephalosporin and Amoxicillin, a narrow-spectrum penicillin, was compared from 1993 to 2008 in relation to the prevalence of various health conditions: obesity; diabetes mellitus; sleep disorders; endocrine, nutritional, metabolic diseases and immunity disorders; and infectious and parasitic diseases. Ceftriaxone demonstrated a strong, significant, and positive relationship with all of the above variables, except for parasitic and infectious diseases. By comparison, Amoxicillin showed weak and non-significant relationships with all of the above variables. Despite their correlational limitations, these results suggest that broad-spectrum antibiotics play a significant role in the development and persistence of many chronic conditions in the United States. A mechanism providing a hypothesized explanation for these results was proposed based on extensive literature review.