Vaughn VM, Flanders SA, Snyder A, et al. - In this retrospective cohort study involving 6,481 general care medical patients with pneumonia, researchers investigated predictors and outcomes correlated with excess duration of antibiotic treatment (excess days per 30-day period). They found that antibiotics prescribed at discharge accounted for an excess duration of 93.2%. Each excess day of treatment was linked to a 5% increase in the odds of antibiotic-associated adverse events reported by patients after discharge. Furthermore, excess antibiotic therapy was often given to patients hospitalized with pneumonia. Patients who had respiratory or noncultural diagnostic tests, had a longer stay, got a high-risk antibiotic in the previous 90 days, had community-acquired pneumonia, or did not have a complete period of antibiotic therapy documented at release were more likely to receive surplus therapy. However, excess treatment was not linked to lower rates of any adverse outcomes, including death, readmission, emergency department visit, or Clostridioides difficile infection.