Patterns of antimicrobial therapy for pediatric patients.
The pattern of antimicrobial prescribing for outpatients and inpatients in a Swedish pediatric department was evaluated in 1975 and 1982. The changes in the pattern during these 7 yr were small and, with regard to outpatients, very similar to those in the whole of Sweden. In these children phenoxymethylpenicillin (penicillin V) was the predominant antimicrobial (approximately 70%), followed by erythromycin and medium wide-spectrum penicillins (ampicillin/amoxycillin). Prescriptions for erythromycin in outpatients increased from 8 to 16%. The corresponding figures for Sweden as a whole were from 13 to 20%. This increase might partly be explained by the higher frequency of pertussis in Sweden in the last few years, but it is probably also a manifestation of an insufficiently motivated widening of the range of indications for erythromycin. A comparison between the prescribing patterns in Sweden and North America showed an obvious difference. In the USA the medium wide-spectrum penicillins are more used than penicillin V. This difference is discussed and found to be probably due to a real difference in antimicrobial policy. Penicillin V and G also dominated the inpatient prescriptions (51% in 1975 and 42% in 1982), which also differed from some North American hospitals.
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010406:Penicillins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013548:Sweden; D014481:United States; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D010406:Penicillins; D004917:Erythromycin