Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in a Canadian primary care setting: a descriptive analysis using routinely collected electronic medical record data.
Adolescent
Adult
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Canada
/ epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
Drug Prescriptions
/ statistics & numerical data
Electronic Health Records
Female
Humans
Inappropriate Prescribing
/ statistics & numerical data
Male
Middle Aged
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
Primary Health Care
Young Adult
Journal
CMAJ open
ISSN: 2291-0026
Titre abrégé: CMAJ Open
Pays: Canada
ID NLM: 101620603
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Historique:
entrez:
9
5
2020
pubmed:
10
5
2020
medline:
10
5
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Unnecessary antibiotic use in the community in Canada is not well defined. Our objective was to quantify unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in a Canadian primary care setting. We performed a descriptive analysis in Ontario from April 2011 to March 2016 using the Electronic Medical Records Primary Care database linked to other health administrative data sets at ICES. We determined antibiotic prescribing rates (per 100 patient-physician encounters) for 23 common conditions and estimated rates of unnecessary prescribing using predefined expected prescribing rates, both stratified by condition and patient age group. The study included 341 physicians, 204 313 patients and 499 570 encounters. The rate of unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for included conditions was 15.4% overall and was 17.6% for those less than 2 years of age, 18.6% for those aged 2-18, 14.5% for those aged 19-64 and 13.0% for those aged 65 or more. The highest unnecessary prescribing rates were observed for acute bronchitis (52.6%), acute sinusitis (48.4%) and acute otitis media (39.3%). The common cold, acute bronchitis, acute sinusitis and miscellaneous nonbacterial infections were responsible for 80% of the unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. Of all antibiotics prescribed, 12.0% were for conditions for which they are never indicated, and 12.3% for conditions for which they are rarely indicated. In children, 25% of antibiotics were for conditions for which they are never indicated (e.g., common cold). Antibiotics were prescribed unnecessarily for 15.4% of included encounters in a Canadian primary care setting. Almost one-quarter of antibiotics were prescribed for conditions for which they are rarely or never indicated. These findings should guide safe reductions in the use of antibiotics for the common cold, bronchitis and sinusitis.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Unnecessary antibiotic use in the community in Canada is not well defined. Our objective was to quantify unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in a Canadian primary care setting.
METHODS
We performed a descriptive analysis in Ontario from April 2011 to March 2016 using the Electronic Medical Records Primary Care database linked to other health administrative data sets at ICES. We determined antibiotic prescribing rates (per 100 patient-physician encounters) for 23 common conditions and estimated rates of unnecessary prescribing using predefined expected prescribing rates, both stratified by condition and patient age group.
RESULTS
The study included 341 physicians, 204 313 patients and 499 570 encounters. The rate of unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for included conditions was 15.4% overall and was 17.6% for those less than 2 years of age, 18.6% for those aged 2-18, 14.5% for those aged 19-64 and 13.0% for those aged 65 or more. The highest unnecessary prescribing rates were observed for acute bronchitis (52.6%), acute sinusitis (48.4%) and acute otitis media (39.3%). The common cold, acute bronchitis, acute sinusitis and miscellaneous nonbacterial infections were responsible for 80% of the unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. Of all antibiotics prescribed, 12.0% were for conditions for which they are never indicated, and 12.3% for conditions for which they are rarely indicated. In children, 25% of antibiotics were for conditions for which they are never indicated (e.g., common cold).
INTERPRETATION
Antibiotics were prescribed unnecessarily for 15.4% of included encounters in a Canadian primary care setting. Almost one-quarter of antibiotics were prescribed for conditions for which they are rarely or never indicated. These findings should guide safe reductions in the use of antibiotics for the common cold, bronchitis and sinusitis.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32381687
pii: 8/2/E360
doi: 10.9778/cmajo.20190175
pmc: PMC7207032
doi:
Substances chimiques
Anti-Bacterial Agents
0
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Pagination
E360-E369Informations de copyright
Copyright 2020, Joule Inc. or its licensors.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.
Références
BMJ. 2014 Mar 06;348:g1606
pubmed: 24603565
BMJ. 2019 Dec 11;367:l6461
pubmed: 31826860
BMJ. 2019 Jan 16;364:k5092
pubmed: 30651273
JAMA. 2016 May 3;315(17):1864-73
pubmed: 27139059
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2015 Aug 13;15:67
pubmed: 26268511
BMJ. 2019 Feb 12;364:l236
pubmed: 30755451
BMC Infect Dis. 2014 Jan 09;14:13
pubmed: 24405683
BMJ. 2018 Nov 12;363:k3047
pubmed: 30420401
JAMA. 2016 Nov 22;316(20):2115-2125
pubmed: 27893129
Ann Intern Med. 2015 Jul 21;163(2):73-80
pubmed: 26192562
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Jun 19;6:CD000245
pubmed: 28626858
Lancet Infect Dis. 2019 Apr;19(4):419-428
pubmed: 30846277
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Mar 01;(3):CD000245
pubmed: 24585130
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013 May;57(5):2326-32
pubmed: 23478961
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019 Jul 1;74(7):2091-2097
pubmed: 30805603
Health Serv Res. 2008 Dec;43(6):2223-38
pubmed: 18665858
JAMA. 2016 Feb 9;315(6):562-70
pubmed: 26864410
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Jun 04;(6):CD000247
pubmed: 23733381
PLoS One. 2018 Nov 12;13(11):e0207468
pubmed: 30419045
Ann Intern Med. 2017 Jun 6;166(11):765-774
pubmed: 28492914
JAMA Intern Med. 2014 Mar;174(3):425-31
pubmed: 24474434
Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2019 Jul;17(7):511-521
pubmed: 31232615
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2018 Feb 1;73(suppl_2):ii2-ii10
pubmed: 29490062
Am Fam Physician. 2016 Aug 1;94(3):200-2
pubmed: 27479620
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Feb 11;(2):CD000243
pubmed: 24515610
Lancet. 2016 Apr 23;387(10029):1743-52
pubmed: 26898856
CMAJ Open. 2018 Oct 31;6(4):E445-E452
pubmed: 30381321
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2018 Feb 1;73(suppl_2):19-26
pubmed: 29490060
Bull World Health Organ. 2017 Nov 1;95(11):764-773
pubmed: 29147057
BMJ. 2010 May 18;340:c2096
pubmed: 20483949
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2018 Feb 1;73(suppl_2):ii11-ii18
pubmed: 29490061
J Hosp Infect. 2019 Apr;101(4):426-427
pubmed: 30826342
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Sep 07;9:CD012252
pubmed: 28881002
MMWR Recomm Rep. 2016 Nov 11;65(6):1-12
pubmed: 27832047
BMJ. 2019 Feb 12;364:l289
pubmed: 30755402
JAMA Intern Med. 2016 Nov 1;176(11):1649-1650
pubmed: 27653497