BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- A new study in U.S. announces that antibiotics are overused in elderly people dying of dementia diseases and should be considered more carefully because of the growing problem of drug-resistant superbugs, according to media reports Tuesday.

    The study followed more than 200 people with advanced dementia from Boston-area nursing homes for 18 months or until their deaths. Their medical records showed that 42 percent of them received antibiotics within two weeks of their deaths.

    The closer they were to death, the more likely they were to receive antibiotics. Most patients got the drugs intravenously, which can be uncomfortable, and some experienced troubling side effects such as diarrhea.

    "Advanced dementia is a terminal illness," said study co-author Dr. Susan Mitchell, a senior scientist with the Harvard-affiliated Hebrew Senior Life Institute for Aging Research in Boston. "If we substituted 'end-stage cancer' for 'advanced dementia,' I don't think people would have any problem understanding this."

    If the family's goal is to keep their loved one comfortable, rather than to prolong life, alternatives such as oxygen and Tylenol can help, Dr. Daniel Brauner, a geriatrician and ethicist said.

    Doctors should discuss antibiotics with family, just as they would discuss placing a feeding tube, Mitchell said.

    The study points out the need for more discussion of advance directives, the documents that patients and families use to make their wishes known at the end of life.

    (Agencies)