The evaluation of antibiotic prescribing in general practice using a health insurance company database: penicillins use
Abstract
General practitioners often prescribe antibiotics for diagnoses that do not require antibiotic treatment. The regular monitoring of total antibiotic consumption doesn't reveal critical areas of antibiotic prescription.
We used the database of Health Insurance Company to evaluate the antibiotic prescribing habits of general practitioner's in the age-stratified population. We target the prescribing of penicillins.
The problem of DDD determination was solved using the number of prescriptions, corresponding to the number of treatment courses. With advancing age, there was a dramatic decline in overall penicillins consumption.
The opposite results, penicillins were prescribed in 30 % infection cases among teenagers. The use of aminopenicillins combined with beta-lactamase inhibitor was four times higher than the use of aminopenicilins in children younger than one year.
The possible explanations of these trends are discussed.