Systematic review of patient-oriented interventions to reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Antibiotics are prescribed frequently for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) even though most URTIs do not require antibiotics. This over-prescription contributes to antibiotic resistance which is a major health problem globally. As physicians' prescribing behaviour is influenced by patients' expectations, there may be some opportunities to reduce antibiotic prescribing using patient-oriented interventions. We aimed to identify these interventions and to understand which ones are more effective in reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics for URTIs.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review by searching the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE (OVID), EMBASE (OVID), CINAHL, and the Web of Science. We included English language rand

SUBMITTER: Mortazhejri S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7210679 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature