Loading...
Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) dropped dramatically in the late 1990s following national educational initiatives. In this U.S. study, researchers used two databases reflecting nationally representative physician and hospital ambulatory practices to track this trend from 1995 to 2006.
Among children younger than 5 years, roughly a third of healthcare visits were for ARTIs. From 1995–1996 to 2005–2006, the proportion of ARTI visits that resulted in antibiotic prescriptions declined from 65% to 50%. Use of penicillin and amoxicillin declined by roughly a third, but use of azithromycin increased ninefold. The annual rate of visits for otitis media (OM) among young children declined by about a …