The terms “antimicrobial resistance” and “AMR” aren’t working so well to convey how dangerous antibiotic-resistant infections are, a new study finds. Additionally, a more alarming term may be needed to make people take AMR seriously, the authors say.
The study was published on Oct. 25 in Nature Communications. The report involved two surveys that found that “AMR” and “antimicrobial resistance” were among the lowest scoring for both risk association and memorability out of six most commonly used terms that reflect the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. All six terms were less associated with risk, and less memorable, than the names of other diseases and risks — even those that were less harmful.
“Our study highlights the need to rename AMR to a memorable term that’s fit for the wider public and not just those from the medical or scientific communities,” Eva Krockow, PhD, lead author, a researcher from the University of Leicester, said in a statement.
The surveys gathered data from 237 US and 924 UK participants in 2020 and 2021. The respondents had to answer how memorable six AMR-related terms were to make them feel there was a risk; the people compared how they perceived the six terms to 34 health risks and diseases.
In addition to “AMR” and “antibiotic resistance,” the people had to gauge how they felt about terms including “antibiotic resistance,” “bacterial resistance,” “drug-resistant infections,” and “superbugs.”
A 2019 report also found that the AMR-related terms were keeping people from becoming more aware about the dangers of some bacteria.
What terms were more linked to health risks? Respondents flagged “cancer,” “Ebola” and “heart disease” the most, while “diarrhea,” “AIDS,” and “HIV” were the most memorable. “Antimicrobial resistance” and “AMR” were among the lowest-scoring terms in terms of how people associated them with risk, and how memorable they were.
“Drug-resistant infections” and “antibiotic resistance” had the highest scores of AMR-related terms for risk association and memorability, the data showed.
