title: Antibiotic prescribing trends in an omani paediatric population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to evaluate antibiotic prescribing patterns for paediatric patients at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), a tertiary care hospital in Muscat, Oman.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective cross-sectional study included all 1,186 prescriptions issued for 499 patients at the paediatric outpatient clinic and paediatric inpatient ward at SQUH between March and May 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 499 patients, 138 (27.6%) were prescribed a total of 28 different antibiotics. A total of 185 (15.6%) antibiotic prescriptions were issued among the total drug prescriptions. Preschool children aged 0-6 years were prescribed antibiotics most frequently (n = 110). Co-amoxiclav was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in both inpatients and outpatients (27.0% and 33.9%, respectively), followed by cefuroxime in inpatients (13.5%) and azithromycin in outpatients (18.6%). Co-amoxiclav was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in both 0-6 (31.3%) and 7-11 (23.3%) year-olds, while cefuroxime was most commonly prescribed in children ≥12 years old (25.0%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Antibiotic prescription patterns in this population were similar to those in North America, Europe and Asia. To confirm the findings of this study, further research on antibiotic prescription trends across the wider paediatric population of Oman should be initiated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology & Clinical Pharmacy, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Balushi
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Al-Ghafri
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Al-Sawafi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology & Clinical Pharmacy, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman ; Department of Pharmacy, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Al-Zakwani
keywords: Antibiotics; Drug Prescription, trends; Oman; Pediatrics