Antibacterial prescribing in primary care.
Monitoring of general practice antibiotic prescribing is important to allow concordance with prescribing guidelines to be assessed. National Prescribing Analysis and Cost Data are limited by lack of information on the condition for which antibiotics are prescribed. Using the General Practice Research Database, we found that the 10 leading indications for antibacterial prescribing were (in descending order): upper respiratory tract infection (RTI), lower RTI, sore throat, urinary tract infection, otitis media, conjunctivitis, vague skin infections without a clear diagnosis, sinusitis, otitis externa and impetigo. Although for some conditions there appeared to be inappropriately high levels of antibacterial prescribing, the antibiotics chosen were usually those recommended for first-line treatment.
Petersen
Irene
I
UCL Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, Royal Free and University College Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK.
Hayward
Andrew C
AC
D026683:Advisory Committees; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents