Prevalence of antibiotic use for pediatric acute upper respiratory tract infections in Korea.
This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of antimicrobial prescribing for acute upper respiratory tract infections (URI) among pediatric outpatients and to identify the national patterns of its use from 2009 to 2011 in Korea. Using National Patients Sample database from 2009 to 2011, we estimated the frequency of antibiotics prescribing for URI in pediatric outpatients with diagnoses of acute nasopharyngitis (common cold), acute sinusitis, acute pharyngitis, acute tonsillitis, acute laryngitis/tracheitis, acute obstructive laryngitis/epiglottitis, and acute upper respiratory infections of multiple and unspecified sites. The proportions of each antibiotic class were calculated by year and absolute and relative differences were estimated. Also, we investigated daily amount of prescribed antibiotics per defined population according to the type of medical care institution, physician specialty, and geographic region. The overall antibiotic prescribing proportion was 58.7% and its annual proportion slightly decreased (55.4% in 2011 vs. 60.5% in 2009; adjusted odds ratio, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-0.83). Variations by the type of medical care institution were observed. Tertiary hospitals (45.0%) were less likely to prescribe antibiotics than primary care clinics (59.4%), hospitals (59.0%), and general hospitals (61.2%); they showed different tendencies in choosing antibiotics. Variations by physician specialty and region were also observed. Prevalence of antimicrobial prescribing for pediatric URI is still considered higher than that of western countries and varies by the type of medical care institution, physician specialty, and geographic region.
Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS), Seoul, Korea.
Sun Mi
0000-0003-4040-6120
SM
Shin
Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS), Seoul, Korea.
Ju-Young
0000-0002-2791-1037
JY
Shin
Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS), Seoul, Korea.
Mi Hee
0000-0001-8099-9712
MH
Kim
Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS), Seoul, Korea.
Shin Haeng
0000-0002-4062-7903
SH
Lee
Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS), Seoul, Korea.
Sohyun
0000-0003-1786-4721
S
Choi
Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS), Seoul, Korea. ; Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Byung-Joo
0000-0003-4630-4942
BJ
Park
D000208:Acute Disease; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010820:Physicians / Q000639:trends; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infections; Antibiotics; Pediatrics