Caregiver Symptom Misrepresentation to Obtain Antibiotics in Pediatric Encounters - Takeaways - MDSpire
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Caregivers’ Misreporting of Children’s Symptoms to Secure Antibiotics During Pediatric Visits

  • By

  • Alistair Thorpe

  • Andrea Gurmankin Levy

  • Laura D. Scherer

  • Rachael A. Lee

  • Julia E. Szymczak

  • Jeffrey T. Kullgren

  • Valerie M. Vaughn

  • William B. Petty

  • Isabelle L. Palmer

  • Christina Yen

  • Angela Fagerlin

  • October 30, 2026

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  • 1

    In a national, nonprobability US survey, 63 of 236 caregivers (26.7%) reported ever misrepresenting a child’s symptoms to obtain antibiotics.

  • 2

    Caregivers reported exaggerating existing symptoms (24.2%), fabricating absent symptoms (23.6%), or both (19.1%).

  • 3

    Among caregivers who misrepresented symptoms, 87.3% said they had obtained antibiotics at least once, and 63.5% felt clinicians did not take their symptoms seriously.

  • 4

    Misrepresentation was associated with often feeling unheard by clinicians, more comorbidities, greater acceptance of lying, and lower health literacy; greater antibiotic knowledge was associated with

  • 5

    The nonprobability sample and exploratory regression estimates limit interpretation, and social desirability bias may have led to underreporting.

Original Source(s)

Caregiver Symptom Misrepresentation to Obtain Antibiotics in Pediatric Encounters

  • by Alistair Thorpe, Andrea Gurmankin Levy, Laura D. Scherer, Rachael A. Lee, Julia E. Szymczak, Jeffrey T. Kullgren, Valerie M. Vaughn, William B. Petty, Isabelle L. Palmer, Christina Yen, Angela Fagerlin

  • October 30, 2026

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