US survey: nearly 28% of adults say they misrepresented symptoms to get antibiotics

Nearly 28% of US adults surveyed said they had at some point misrepresented their symptoms to a clinician to obtain antibiotics, according to a study in JAMA Network Open, as reported by news-medical.net. news-medical.netnews-medical.netnews-medical.netOpen source ↗ The online survey ran from January 8 to February 13, 2026, and participants were recruited through the market research firm Dynata. Of 1,371 eligible respondents who began the survey, 959 were included in the final analysis.

Outpatient care accounts for most antibiotic use in the United States, with about 255.9 million prescriptions a year. Unnecessary prescribing exposes patients to adverse effects, allergic reactions and Clostridioides difficile infection, and it accelerates antimicrobial resistance. Clinicians decide on antibiotics partly based on what patients report about the onset, severity and duration of symptoms.

What respondents reported

A total of 268 respondents reported misrepresentation: 108 only exaggerated, 19 only fabricated, and 141 did both. Exaggeration meant knowingly overstating the severity or duration of real symptoms; fabrication meant reporting non-existent ones. Of the 268, 206 said they had obtained antibiotics this way at least once, and 85 more than once. Cold-like symptoms such as fever, cough and sore throat were misrepresented most often.

Among the reasons given, 167 said they felt very sick and 166 believed antibiotics were the only treatment that would help. Further, 163 wanted to return to work or parenting duties sooner, and 145 believed they understood their medical needs better than their clinician. In this group, 108 believed there was no downside to antibiotics and 86 did not believe antibiotic resistance was real. Only 77 regretted the misrepresentation. news-medical.netnews-medical.netnews-medical.netOpen source ↗

Associated factors

In an exploratory logistic regression, respondents aged 18–33 and 34–55 had about three times the odds of misrepresentation compared with those aged 65 and older. The odds were more than twice as high among those who felt clinicians did not take their symptoms seriously, those who believed antibiotic resistance was a hoax, and those who needed help reading health materials. More existing health conditions and greater acceptance of lying were also associated with higher odds.

Greater antibiotic knowledge and a stronger dislike of taking antibiotics were associated with lower odds. No statistically significant associations were found with sex, race or ethnicity.

The authors say the findings may reflect problems in patient-clinician relationships rather than simply individual dishonesty. They describe their estimates as preliminary: the sample was nonprobability and not fully representative, answers were self-reported, the survey asked about lifetime behavior, and the cross-sectional analysis cannot establish causation. news-medical.netnews-medical.netnews-medical.netOpen source ↗