28% of US adults admit lying to obtain antibiotics — Live Science

In the United States, 28% of surveyed adults said they had exaggerated or fabricated symptoms while trying to obtain antibiotics from a doctor. Live Science reports on the results of two surveys.

What the adult survey showed

The first survey was conducted among nearly 960 adults from different regions of the United States in January–February 2026. About 26% of respondents said they had exaggerated existing symptoms, while 17% said they had fabricated them. Most often, this concerned cold-like symptoms: fever, cough, and sore throat.

About two-thirds of those who misrepresented information about their condition were at least moderately confident that this would prompt a doctor to prescribe antibiotics. Of them, 77% said this tactic had worked at least once. Among the motives, respondents cited feeling unwell, the belief that antibiotics would help them recover faster and return to everyday activities, as well as a desire to control the prescribed treatment.

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Parents' responses and the risk of overtreatment

The second, smaller survey included 236 parents and other caregivers of children and adolescents under the age of 18. About 27% of participants said they had falsely described a child's symptoms in order to obtain antibiotics; 87% of them believed this had produced results at least once.

The authors of the study, published on October 30, 2026, in JAMA Network Open, noted that such responses may contribute to the overuse of antibiotics in pediatrics. Antibiotics do not treat viral infections, and their inappropriate use places additional pressure on bacteria, which may contribute to the development of drug resistance. At the same time, the researchers cautioned that the participants did not necessarily represent the entire US population, and some people may not have reported or remembered instances of falsely describing symptoms.