This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Interventions could decrease broad-spectrum antibiotic use
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Intervention efforts should continue to focus on decreasing the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and identifying the best practices in low-prescribing areas, according to recent study findings published in Pediatrics.
Louise Elaine Vaz, MD, of the division of infectious diseases and department of laboratory medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues evaluated all children aged 3 months to younger than 18 years from commercial health plans among three regions in the United States. The researchers analyzed data from Sept. 1, 2000, to Aug. 31, 2010, to determine if there was a change in the rate of decline in antibiotic use over years. Plan A was a commercial health insurer that reimbursed care provided by a large network of affiliated practices. Plan B was an integrated health care delivery system with a multispecialty group practice. Plan C was an insurer with an integrated health care delivery system and affiliated network practices.
Louise Elaine Vaz
In 2009 and 2010, the overall annual antibiotic-dispensing rates in each age group and each plan were lower than in 2000 to 2001 (P<.001). The highest users of antibiotics during all study years were patients aged 3 to less than 24 months. By 2009 to 2010, antibiotic rates per person years were highest among patients in Plan C (1.70), following by those in Plan A (1.62) and those in Plan B (0.91).
The greatest decline of antibiotic use was seen in children aged 3 to less than 24 months between 2000 to 2001 and 2009 to 2010.
Among children younger than 6 years, otitis media (OM) was the most common diagnosis for which antibiotics were prescribed. Pharyngitis was the most common diagnosis associated with antibiotic prescriptions for children aged 6 to less than 12 years. Penicillins, cephalosporins and second-generation macrolides were the majority of antibiotics prescribed to children younger than 12 years.
“Our data suggest that the downward trend in antibiotic use for children observed for more than a decade, is coming to an end,” the researchers wrote. “This finding seems to be true across all pediatric age groups. However, because the highest rates of antibiotic use continue to be in young children, decreasing broad-spectrum use for common conditions such as OM will need to be a continuing focus for intervention. Because prescribing rates vary considerably, further efforts to improve judicious antibiotic use are also likely to benefit from identifying best practices in low-prescribing areas and health care delivery systems.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the NIH. The study authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts