Abstract

MONTEIRO, Ana Bessa; CASTANHEIRA, Ana Dulce; CASTRO, Miriam  and  CAPELA, Nuno. Antibiotic prescription in upper respiratory tract infections. Rev Port Clin Geral [online]. 2011, vol.27, n.6, pp.502-506. ISSN 0870-7103.

Objectives: To determine the proportion of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) treated with antibiotics in a primary care unit, to identify the most prescribed antibiotics for the treatment of URTI, to test the association between antibiotic prescription and the age and gender of the patient, and to test the association between patient age and the antibiotic selected. Study design: cross-sectional. Setting: Serpa Pinto Family Health Unit (USF Serpa Pinto), Porto, Portugal. Population: Patients registered in the Family Health Unit with at least one diagnosis of upper respiratory tract infection recorded. Methods: information was collected from MedicineOne® and SAM® software using International Classification of Primary Care-2 codes R21, R72, R74, R75, R76. Results: Of the 299 patients identified, 61.2% were women. The average age was 26.4 years (± 22.3). The most common diagnoses were R76 (48.1%) and R74 (38.7%). Antibiotics were prescribed in 68.2% of visits, and penicillins were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics (90.6%). There was no association between the prescription of antibiotics and the gender or age of the patient. There was a statistically significant association between patient age and the class of antibiotics prescribed. Penicillins were prescribed more to younger patients (mean age 25.1 years ± 22.1) compared to other antibiotics (mean age 39.7 years ± 20.1, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Beta-lactam antibiotics were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics for treatment of URTI, with a higher proportion of penicillins prescribed here than that found in other studies. There was an association found between age and the therapeutic class of antibiotics prescribed

Keywords : Anti-bacterial agents; Respiratory Tract Infections; Primary Health Care.

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