Document Detail


Antibiotic prescribing in general practice--the rhythm of the week: a cross-sectional study.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20864498     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Process    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVES: Overprescribing of antibiotics in primary care is a worldwide phenomenon. Prescriptions can be used to reduce the uncertainty inherent in general practice. We assumed a heightened prescribing rate on Fridays because of more uncertainty before the pending weekend.
METHODS: Cross-sectional study from a general practice research database with 102 140 patients of 32 practices in Germany. Prescribing rates of antibiotics on different days of the week were analysed. In order to evaluate the influence of the weekday within a multivariate setting, we used SAS PROC GENMOD. This procedure was parameterized accordingly to account for the cluster design of the study.
RESULTS: The prescribing rate of antibiotics on Fridays was 23.3% higher than the average of the other days of the working week (6.04% versus 4.90%, P < 0.0001). The significance of this finding was confirmed by the multivariate analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: There is periodic fluctuation of antibiotic prescribing rates over the week. This cannot be explained by morbidity itself. Factors beyond biomedical indication are well known to influence prescribing patterns. These factors should not only be further explored, but also acknowledged when trying to reduce overprescribing.
Authors:
Thomas Kuehlein; Joachim Szecsenyi; Andreas Gutscher; Gunter Laux
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2010-09-23
Journal Detail:
Title:  The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy     Volume:  65     ISSN:  1460-2091     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Antimicrob. Chemother.     Publication Date:  2010 Dec 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-10     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7513617     Medline TA:  J Antimicrob Chemother     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  2666-8     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice and Health Services Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. thomas.kuehlein@med.uni-heidelberg.de
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