Regional variability in outpatient antibiotic use in Ontario, Canada: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Regional variability in antibiotic use is associated with both antibiotic overuse and antimicrobial resistance. Our objectives were to benchmark outpatient antibiotic use and to evaluate geographic variability among health regions in the province of Ontario, Canada.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study of antibiotics dispensed from outpatient retail pharmacies in Ontario between March 2016 and February 2017. We analyzed variability in the number of antibiotic prescriptions dispensed per 1000 population among Ontario's 14 health regions with crude and adjusted Poisson regression models. Adjusted models controlled for rurality, 4 physician characteristics and 6 population characteristics.

Results

There were 8 352 578 antibiotics dispensed during the 1-yea

SUBMITTER: Schwartz KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6208056 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature