title: Oral and topical antibiotic prescriptions for children in general practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Most primary care clinical guidelines recommend restrictive antibiotic use for childhood infections. We investigated antibiotic prescription rates over time for oral and topical antibiotics for children (≤12 years) in the period 2000-2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal observational study among children (≤12 years) in a large Dutch general practice database in the period 2000-2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  Oral and topical antibiotic prescribing rates per year and independent factors influencing antibiotic prescriptions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analysed 108 555 patient-years during 2000-2010. At least one chronic disease was recorded in 15.8% of patient-years, with asthma most commonly registered. In 14.8% of the patient-years at least one antibiotic was prescribed, while 26.3% of these received two or more prescriptions. Young age and chronic disease had a significant effect on antibiotic prescriptions. Prescriptions for oral and topical antibiotics increased 4.9% and 1.8%, respectively, during 2000-2005 (p<0.001). Prescription rates for oral antibiotics decreased 3.3% during 2006-2010 (p<0.001), while topical prescribing rates remained stable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One in six children received at least one oral antibiotic prescription per year during 2000-2010. While topical prescription rates steadily increased during 2005-2010 and remained stable during 2006-2010, prescription rates for oral antibiotics increased significantly during the period 2000-2005 and then significantly decreased during the period 2006-2010. As clinical guidelines remained the same over this period, the effects could be contributed to the initiation of the Dutch nationwide pneumococcal vaccination campaign in 2006.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, Maastricht 6200 MD, The Netherlands. eefje.debont@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Eefje G P M
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: de Bont
authors.forename: Inge H M
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: van Loo
authors.forename: Nicole H T M
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Dukers-Muijrers
authors.forename: Christian J P A
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hoebe
authors.forename: Catharina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bruggeman
authors.forename: Geert-Jan
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Dinant
authors.forename: Jochen W L
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Cals
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents