Seasonal variation in penicillin use in Mexico and Brazil: analysis of the impact of over-the-counter restrictions.

ABSTRACT: During 2010, Mexico and Brazil implemented policies to enforce existing laws of restricting over-the-counter sales of antibiotics. We determined if the enforcement led to more appropriate antibiotic use by measuring changes in seasonal variation of penicillin use. We used retail quarterly sales data in defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitant-days (DDD/TID) from IMS Health from the private sector in Mexico and Brazil from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2013. This database contains information on volume of antibiotics sold in retail pharmacies using information from wholesalers. We used interrupted time-series models controlling for external factors with the use of antihypertensives with interaction terms to assess changes in trend, level, and variation in use between qua

SUBMITTER: Santa-Ana-Tellez Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4291337 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature