Antibiotic prescription patterns for upper respiratory tract infections in the outpatient Qatari population in the private sector.

Antibiotics are often inappropriately prescribed for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in developed countries. Data on the proportion of inappropriate prescriptions are lacking from the Middle East and other developing countries. Health insurance claims for all antibiotics prescribed for URTIs in the private sector in the State of Qatar between May 2014 and December 2015 were retrieved. During the study period, health insurance was limited to Qatari nationals. Topical antibiotics were excluded. Data on the prescriber's specialty, as listed with the licensing authority, were also retrieved. Diagnoses were classified as appropriate or inappropriate based on the likelihood of a bacterial etiology that may warrant antibiotic use. A total of 75 733 claims were made during the study period. Of these, 41 556 (55%) were for an appropriate indication, while 34 177 (45%) were for an inappropriate indication. The most common antibiotic classes prescribed were cephalosporins (43% of claims; 44% inappropriate), penicillins (28% of claims; 44% inappropriate), macrolides (19% of claims; 52% inappropriate), and fluoroquinolones (9% of claims; 40% inappropriate). Nearly 5% of antibiotics were prescribed in intravenous formulations. The most common prescribers were General/Family Practice physicians (53% of claims; 50% inappropriate), followed by Pediatrics (18.6% of claims; 36% inappropriate) and Internal Medicine (14.1% of claims; 44% inappropriate). There is a high rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescription for acute URTIs in the private health care sector in the State of Qatar. Further studies are needed to determine the population-based rates across the country. Interventions to decrease inappropriate use in such settings are urgently needed.

Butt AA ，Navasero CS ，Thomas B ，Marri SA ，Katheeri HA ，Thani AA ，Khal AA ，Khan T ，Abou-Samra AB ... -  《-》

Pattern of antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients with acute respiratory tract infections in Japan, 2013-15: a retrospective observational study.

In this age of antimicrobial resistance, unnecessary use of antibiotics to treat non-bacterial acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) and inappropriate use of antibiotics in treating bacterial ARTIs are public health concerns. Our aim is to identify the pattern of oral antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients with ARTIs in Japan. We analysed health insurance claims data of patients (aged ≤74 years) from 2013 to 2015, to determine the pattern of antibiotic prescriptions for outpatient ARTIs and calculated the proportion of each antibiotic. Data on 4.6 million antibiotic prescriptions among 1559394 outpatients with ARTIs were analysed. The most commonly prescribed classes of antibiotics included cephalosporins (41.9%), macrolides (32.8%) and fluoroquinolones (14.7%). The proportion of first-, second- and third-generation cephalosporins was 1.0%, 1.7% and 97.3%, respectively. Fluoroquinolones accounted for a quarter of the prescriptions for ARTIs in patients aged >20 years. In contrast, penicillins accounted for just 8.0% of the total number of antibiotic prescriptions for ARTIs. According to clinical guidelines, penicillins are first-line antibiotics against ARTIs. However, third-generation cephalosporins, macrolides and fluoroquinolones are more frequently prescribed in Japan. Although we could not assess the extent to which appropriate antibiotics are selected, our results support the necessity of improving antibiotic choices in the treatment of ARTIs.

Teratani Y ，Hagiya H ，Koyama T ，Adachi M ，Ohshima A ，Zamami Y ，Tanaka HY ，Tatebe Y ，Tasaka K ，Mikami N ，Shinomiya K ，Kitamura Y ，Kano MR ，Hinotsu S ，Sendo T ... -  《-》

Appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections in general practice: Comparison between Denmark and Iceland.

Rún Sigurðardóttir N ，Nielsen AB ，Munck A ，Bjerrum L ... -  《-》

Antibiotic prescribing in public and private practice: a cross-sectional study in primary care clinics in Malaysia.

Ab Rahman N ，Teng CL ，Sivasampu S 《BMC INFECTIOUS DISEASES》

Characterisation of antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory tract infections in Danish general practice: a retrospective registry based cohort study.

Aabenhus R ，Hansen MP ，Saust LT ，Bjerrum L ... -  《npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine》