Opportunities to reduce antibiotic prescribing for patients with COPD in primary care: a cohort study using electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).

ABSTRACT:

Background

In primary care there is uncertainty about which patients with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) benefit from antibiotics.

Objectives

To identify which types of COPD patients get the most antibiotics in primary care to support targeted antibiotic stewardship.

Methods

Observational study of COPD patients using a large English primary care database with 12 month follow-up. We estimated the incidence of and risk factors for antibiotic prescribing relative to the number of AECOPD during follow-up, considering COPD severity, smoking, obesity and comorbidity.

Results

From 157 practices, 19594 patients were diagnosed with COPD, representing 2.6% of patients and 11.5% of all prescribed antibiotics. Eight hundred and thirty-three (4.5%) patients with sever

SUBMITTER: Rockenschaub P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6910166 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature