Antibiotic prescribing frequency amongst patients in primary care: a cohort study using electronic health records.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in primary care is a public health priority.

Objectives

We hypothesized that a subset of patients account for the majority of antibiotic prescriptions in primary care. We investigated the relationship between the total amount of antibiotics prescribed, individual-level antibiotic use and comorbidity.

Methods

This was a cohort study using electronic health records from 1 948 390 adults registered with 385 primary care practices in the UK in 2011-13. We estimated the average number of antibiotic prescriptions per patient and the association between prescribing and comorbidity. We modelled the impact on total prescribing of reducing antibiotic use in those prescribed antibiotics most frequently.

Results

On a

SUBMITTER: Shallcross L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5437523 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature