title: Antibiotics for URTI and UTI -- prescribing in Malaysian primary care settings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Overprescription of antibiotics is a continuing problem in primary care. This study aims to assess the antibiotic prescribing rates and antibiotic choices for upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and urinary tract infections (UTI) in Malaysian primary care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antibiotic prescribing data for URTI and UTI was extracted from a morbidity survey of randomly selected primary care clinics in Malaysia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis was performed of 1,163 URTI and 105 UTI encounters. Antibiotic prescribing rates for URTI and UTI were 33.8% and 57.1% respectively. Antibiotic prescribing rates were higher in private clinics compared to public clinics for URTI, but not for UTI. In URTI encounters, the majority of antibiotics prescribed were penicillins and macrolides, but penicillin V was notably underused. In UTI encounters, the antibiotics prescribed were predominantly penicillins or cotrimoxazole.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Greater effort is needed to bring about evidence based antibiotic prescribing in Malaysian primary care, especially for URTIs in private clinics.
authors: Department of Family Medicine, International Medical University, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. tengcl@gmail.com
authors: Cheong Lieng
authors: CL
authors: Teng
authors: Seng Fah
authors: SF
authors: Tong
authors: Ee Ming
authors: EM
authors: Khoo
authors: Verna
authors: V
authors: Lee
authors: Abu Hassan
authors: AH
authors: Zailinawati
authors: Omar
authors: O
authors: Mimi
authors: Wei Seng
authors: WS
authors: Chen
authors: Salleh
authors: S
authors: Nordin