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Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment

Background and Objectives: Primary care physicians frequently prescribe antibiotics for acutely ill children, even though they usually have self-limiting diseases of viral etiology. The aim of this research was to evaluate the routine antibiotic-prescribing habits of primary care in Latvia, in respo...

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Autores principales: Likopa, Zane, Kivite-Urtane, Anda, Pavare, Jana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8397978/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34441037
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina57080831
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author Likopa, Zane
Kivite-Urtane, Anda
Pavare, Jana
author_facet Likopa, Zane
Kivite-Urtane, Anda
Pavare, Jana
author_sort Likopa, Zane
collection PubMed
description Background and Objectives: Primary care physicians frequently prescribe antibiotics for acutely ill children, even though they usually have self-limiting diseases of viral etiology. The aim of this research was to evaluate the routine antibiotic-prescribing habits of primary care in Latvia, in response to children presenting with infections. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included acutely ill children who consulted eighty family physicians (FP) in Latvia, between November 2019 and May 2020. The data regarding patient demographics, diagnoses treated with antibiotics, the choice of antibiotics and the use of diagnostic tests were collected. Results: The study population comprised 2383 patients aged between one month and 17 years, presenting an acute infection episode, who had a face-to-face consultation with an FP. Overall, 29.2% of these patients received an antibiotic prescription. The diagnoses most often treated with antibiotics were otitis (45.8% of all antibiotic prescriptions), acute bronchitis (25.0%) and the common cold (14.8%). The most commonly prescribed antibiotics were amoxicillin (55.9% of prescriptions), amoxicillin/clavulanate (18.1%) and clarithromycin (11.8%). Diagnostic tests were carried out for 59.6% of children presenting with acute infections and preceded 66.4% of antibiotic prescriptions. Conclusion: Our data revealed that a high level of antibiotic prescribing for self-limiting viral infections in children continues to occur. The underuse of narrow-spectrum antibiotics and suboptimal use of diagnostic tests before treatment decision-making were also identified. To achieve a more rational use of antibiotics in primary care for children with a fever, professionals and parents need to be better educated on this subject, and diagnostic tests should be used more extensively, including the implementation of daily point-of-care testing.
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spelling pubmed-83979782021-08-29 Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment Likopa, Zane Kivite-Urtane, Anda Pavare, Jana Medicina (Kaunas) Article Background and Objectives: Primary care physicians frequently prescribe antibiotics for acutely ill children, even though they usually have self-limiting diseases of viral etiology. The aim of this research was to evaluate the routine antibiotic-prescribing habits of primary care in Latvia, in response to children presenting with infections. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included acutely ill children who consulted eighty family physicians (FP) in Latvia, between November 2019 and May 2020. The data regarding patient demographics, diagnoses treated with antibiotics, the choice of antibiotics and the use of diagnostic tests were collected. Results: The study population comprised 2383 patients aged between one month and 17 years, presenting an acute infection episode, who had a face-to-face consultation with an FP. Overall, 29.2% of these patients received an antibiotic prescription. The diagnoses most often treated with antibiotics were otitis (45.8% of all antibiotic prescriptions), acute bronchitis (25.0%) and the common cold (14.8%). The most commonly prescribed antibiotics were amoxicillin (55.9% of prescriptions), amoxicillin/clavulanate (18.1%) and clarithromycin (11.8%). Diagnostic tests were carried out for 59.6% of children presenting with acute infections and preceded 66.4% of antibiotic prescriptions. Conclusion: Our data revealed that a high level of antibiotic prescribing for self-limiting viral infections in children continues to occur. The underuse of narrow-spectrum antibiotics and suboptimal use of diagnostic tests before treatment decision-making were also identified. To achieve a more rational use of antibiotics in primary care for children with a fever, professionals and parents need to be better educated on this subject, and diagnostic tests should be used more extensively, including the implementation of daily point-of-care testing. MDPI 2021-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8397978/ /pubmed/34441037 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina57080831 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Likopa, Zane
Kivite-Urtane, Anda
Pavare, Jana
Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment
title Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment
title_full Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment
title_fullStr Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment
title_full_unstemmed Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment
title_short Latvian Primary Care Management of Children with Acute Infections: Antibiotic-Prescribing Habits and Diagnostic Process Prior to Treatment
title_sort latvian primary care management of children with acute infections: antibiotic-prescribing habits and diagnostic process prior to treatment
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8397978/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34441037
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina57080831
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