title: Prescription of antibiotics and anxiolytics/hypnotics to asthmatic patients in general practice: a cross-sectional study based on French and Italian prescribing data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asthma is often poorly controlled and guidelines are often inadequately followed in medical practice. In particular, the prescription of non-asthma-specific drugs can affect the quality of care. The goal of this study was to measure the frequency of the prescription of antibiotics and anxiolytics/hypnotics to asthmatic patients and to look for associations between sex or age and the prescription of these drugs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted using computerised medical records from French and Italian general practitioners' networks. Patients were selected according to criteria adapted from the HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) criteria. The outcome measure was the number of antibiotics or anxiolytics/hypnotics prescriptions per patient in 1 year. Parallel multivariate models were developed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The final sample included 3,093 French patients (mean age 27.6 years, 49.7% women) and 3,872 Italian patients (mean age 29.1 years, 48.7% women). In the univariate analysis, the French patients were prescribed fewer antibiotics than the Italian patients (37.1% vs. 42.2%, p < 0.00001) but more anxiolytics/hypnotics (17.8% vs. 6.9%, p < 0.0001). In the multivariate models, the female patients were more likely to receive antibiotics (odds ratio: 1.5 [1.3-1.7]) and anxiolytics/hypnotics (odds ratio: 1.8 [1.5-2.1]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prescription of antibiotics and anxiolytics/hypnotics to asthmatic patients is frequent, especially in women. Asthma guidelines should address this issue by referring to other guidelines covering the prescription of non-asthma-specific drugs, and alternative non-pharmacological interventions should be considered.
authors: Département d'enseignement et de recherche en médecine générale, Faculté de médecine, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, 28 avenue Valombrose, 06 107, Nice, Cedex 02, France. david.darmon@unice.fr.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Darmon
authors: Unité de Pharmaco épidémiologie, Faculté d'Odontologie, UMR 5558 CNRS - Université Claude-Bernard Lyon, CHU, Lyon, France. laurent.laforest@univ-lyon1.fr.
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Laforest
authors: Unité de Pharmaco épidémiologie, Faculté d'Odontologie, UMR 5558 CNRS - Université Claude-Bernard Lyon, CHU, Lyon, France. eric.van-ganse@univ-lyon1.fr.
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Van Ganse
authors: SNAMID Caserta (Italian Society of General Practice), Caserta, Italy. ferdinando.petrazzuoli@gmail.com.|Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Centre for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden. ferdinando.petrazzuoli@gmail.com.
authors: Ferdinando
authors: F
authors: Petrazzuoli
authors: Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. C.vanWeel@elg.umcn.nl.|Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia. C.vanWeel@elg.umcn.nl.
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: van Weel
authors: Département de médecine générale, Faculté de médecine, Université Claude-Bernard Lyon I, Lyon, France. laurent.letrilliart@wanadoo.fr.
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Letrilliart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives
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