Dataset Information

Use of antibiotics contrary to guidelines for children's lower respiratory tract infections in different health care settings.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to evaluate antibiotic prescriptions for children with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in public and private primary care clinics and in a hospital's pediatric emergency department (PED) in 2012-2013 (pre-guideline) and in 2014-2015 (post-guideline). Special attention was paid to guideline compliance, especially regarding macrolide prescriptions, which the guidelines discourage. Retrospective data of 1431 children with LRTI in November-December 2012-2015 were collected from electronic registers and checked manually. Three diagnostic groups were analyzed: community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), wheezing bronchitis, and non-wheezing bronchitis. A comparison of the pre- and post-guideline periods revealed antibiotic prescription rates of 48.7% and 48.9% (p = 0.955) for all LRTIs, respectively, and 77.6% and 71.0% (p = 0.053) for non-wheezing bronchitis. The prescription rates for all LRTIs were 24.9% in PED and 45.9% in public (p < 0.001 vs. PED) and 75.4% in private clinics (p < 0.001 vs. PED and p < 0.001 vs. public clinics). During post-guideline periods, antibiotics were prescribed for CAP less often in private (56.3%) than in public clinics (84.6%; p = 0.037) or in PED (94.3%; p < 0.001 vs. private and p = 0.091 vs. public primary clinics). Macrolide prescriptions were highest in private clinics (42.8%), followed by public primary care clinics (28.5%; p < 0.05) and PED (0.8%; p < 0.05 vs. both public and private primary care). Amoxicillin was the predominant antibiotic in public primary care and PED and macrolides in private primary care.

Conclusion

Antibiotic prescribing for children with LRTI differed significantly between healthcare providers. CAP was undertreated and bronchitis overtreated with antibiotics in primary care, especially in the private clinics.

What is known

• Clinical Treatment Guidelines tend to have modest effect on physicians' antibiotic prescribing habits. • Pediatric viral LRTIs are widely treated with unnecessary antibiotics.

What is new

• Remarkable differences in antibiotic prescriptions in pediatric LRTIs between Finnish private and public providers were observed. • Overuse of macrolides was common especially in private clinics.

SUBMITTER: Poutanen R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10587298 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Use of antibiotics contrary to guidelines for children's lower respiratory tract infections in different health care settings.

Poutanen Roope R Korppi Matti M Csonka Peter P Pauniaho Satu-Liisa SL Renko Marjo M Palmu Sauli S

European journal of pediatrics 20230719 10

This study aimed to evaluate antibiotic prescriptions for children with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in public and private primary care clinics and in a hospital's pediatric emergency department (PED) in 2012-2013 (pre-guideline) and in 2014-2015 (post-guideline). Special attention was paid to guideline compliance, especially regarding macrolide prescriptions, which the guidelines discourage. Retrospective data of 1431 children with LRTI in November-December 2012-2015 were collected ...[more]

PMID: 37464182

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Project description:Viral lower respiratory tract infection (VLRTI) is the most common cause of hospital admission among small children in high-income countries. Guidelines to identify children in need of admission are lacking in the literature. In December 2012, our hospital introduced strict guidelines for admission. This study aims to retrospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of the guidelines. We performed a single-center retrospective administrative database search and medical record review. ICD-10 codes identified children < 24 months assessed at the emergency department for VLRTI for a 10-year period. To identify adverse events related to admission guidelines implementation, we reviewed patient records for all those discharged on primary contact followed by readmission within 14 days. During the study period, 3227 children younger than 24 months old were assessed in the ED for VLRTI. The proportion of severe adverse events among children who were discharged on their initial emergency department contact was low both before (0.3%) and after the intervention (0.5%) (p=1.0). Admission rates before vs. after the intervention were for previously healthy children > 90 days 65.3% vs. 53.3% (p<0.001); for healthy children ≤ 90 days 85% vs. 68% (p<0.001); and for high-risk comorbidities 74% vs. 71% (p=0.5).Conclusion: After implementation of admission guidelines for VLRTI, there were few adverse events and a significant reduction in admissions to the hospital from the emergency department. Our admission guidelines may be a safe and helpful tool in the assessment of children with VLRTI. What is Known: • Viral lower respiratory tract infection, including bronchiolitis, is the most common cause of hospitalization for young children in the developed world. Treatment is mainly supportive, and hospitalization should be limited to the cases in need of therapeutic intervention. • Many countries have guidelines for the management of the disease, but the decision on whom to admit for inpatient treatment is often subjective and may vary even between physicians in the same hospital. What is New: • Implementation of admission criteria for viral lower respiratory tract infection may reduce the rate of hospital admissions without increasing adverse events.

Project description:BackgroundThe effect of procalcitonin-guided use of antibiotics on treatment for suspected lower respiratory tract infection is unclear.MethodsIn 14 U.S. hospitals with high adherence to quality measures for the treatment of pneumonia, we provided guidance for clinicians about national clinical practice recommendations for the treatment of lower respiratory tract infections and the interpretation of procalcitonin assays. We then randomly assigned patients who presented to the emergency department with a suspected lower respiratory tract infection and for whom the treating physician was uncertain whether antibiotic therapy was indicated to one of two groups: the procalcitonin group, in which the treating clinicians were provided with real-time initial (and serial, if the patient was hospitalized) procalcitonin assay results and an antibiotic use guideline with graded recommendations based on four tiers of procalcitonin levels, or the usual-care group. We hypothesized that within 30 days after enrollment the total antibiotic-days would be lower - and the percentage of patients with adverse outcomes would not be more than 4.5 percentage points higher - in the procalcitonin group than in the usual-care group.ResultsA total of 1656 patients were included in the final analysis cohort (826 randomly assigned to the procalcitonin group and 830 to the usual-care group), of whom 782 (47.2%) were hospitalized and 984 (59.4%) received antibiotics within 30 days. The treating clinician received procalcitonin assay results for 792 of 826 patients (95.9%) in the procalcitonin group (median time from sample collection to assay result, 77 minutes) and for 18 of 830 patients (2.2%) in the usual-care group. In both groups, the procalcitonin-level tier was associated with the decision to prescribe antibiotics in the emergency department. There was no significant difference between the procalcitonin group and the usual-care group in antibiotic-days (mean, 4.2 and 4.3 days, respectively; difference, -0.05 day; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.6 to 0.5; P=0.87) or the proportion of patients with adverse outcomes (11.7% [96 patients] and 13.1% [109 patients]; difference, -1.5 percentage points; 95% CI, -4.6 to 1.7; P<0.001 for noninferiority) within 30 days.ConclusionsThe provision of procalcitonin assay results, along with instructions on their interpretation, to emergency department and hospital-based clinicians did not result in less use of antibiotics than did usual care among patients with suspected lower respiratory tract infection. (Funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; ProACT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02130986 .).

Dataset Information

Use of antibiotics contrary to guidelines for children's lower respiratory tract infections in different health care settings.

Conclusion

What is known

What is new

Publications

Use of antibiotics contrary to guidelines for children's lower respiratory tract infections in different health care settings.

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