Changes in outpatient antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory illnesses, 2011 to 2018.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To describe acute respiratory illnesses (ARI) visits and antibiotic prescriptions in 2011 and 2018 across outpatient settings to evaluate progress in reducing unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for ARIs.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting and patients

Outpatient medical and pharmacy claims captured in the IBM MarketScan commercial database, a national convenience sample of privately insured individuals aged <65 years.

Methods

We calculated the annual number of ARI visits and visits with oral antibiotic prescriptions per 1,000 enrollees overall and by age category, sex, and setting in 2011 and 2018. We compared these and calculated prevalence rate ratios (PRRs). We adapted existing tiered-diagnosis methodology for International Classification of

SUBMITTER: King LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9345578 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature