A recent study reveals that many patients aren’t above telling a little fib to get their preferred medication.

Researchers at the University of Utah and other institutions conducted a survey of people across the country. More than a quarter of respondents admitted to lying during a doctor’s visit in order to be prescribed antibiotics, they found. Unfortunately, these lies aren’t so harmless, since they can contribute to unneeded side effects, inappropriate antibiotic use, and the growing problem of drug-resistant bacteria, the researchers say.

“These findings signal a significant issue for health professionals making antibiotic prescribing decisions and for the fields of antimicrobial stewardship and public health,” they wrote in their paper, published Friday in JAMA Network Open.

Antibiotics have immensely changed medicine for the better since their discovery almost a century ago. These drugs effectively treat and prevent all sorts of bacterial infections, making everything from chemotherapy to caesarean section deliveries safer.

That said, antibiotics should be treated as a precious resource, used only when absolutely necessary. This means we typically shouldn’t use them for mild infections that will clear up on their own nor for illnesses that are likely viral in nature (antibiotics don’t work against viruses). Sadly, studies have already found that doctors tend to overprescribe antibiotics in these situations, and when asked why, they’ll often cite wanting to meet the expectations of their patients.

According to the study researchers, however, there’s been less focus on how patients are communicating with doctors in these visits and if or how often they might be misrepresenting their symptoms.

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