1. Antibiotics for URTI and UTI -- prescribing in Malaysian primary care settings.
- Author
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Teng CL, Tong SF, Khoo EM, Lee V, Zailinawati AH, Mimi O, Chen WS, and Nordin S
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Drug Utilization statistics & numerical data, Female, Humans, Malaysia, Male, Middle Aged, Primary Health Care, Young Adult, Anti-Bacterial Agents therapeutic use, Drug Prescriptions statistics & numerical data, Practice Patterns, Physicians' statistics & numerical data, Respiratory Tract Infections drug therapy, Urinary Tract Infections drug therapy
- Abstract
Background: Overprescription of antibiotics is a continuing problem in primary care. This study aims to assess the antibiotic prescribing rates and antibiotic choices for upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and urinary tract infections (UTI) in Malaysian primary care., Method: Antibiotic prescribing data for URTI and UTI was extracted from a morbidity survey of randomly selected primary care clinics in Malaysia., Results: Analysis was performed of 1,163 URTI and 105 UTI encounters. Antibiotic prescribing rates for URTI and UTI were 33.8% and 57.1% respectively. Antibiotic prescribing rates were higher in private clinics compared to public clinics for URTI, but not for UTI. In URTI encounters, the majority of antibiotics prescribed were penicillins and macrolides, but penicillin V was notably underused. In UTI encounters, the antibiotics prescribed were predominantly penicillins or cotrimoxazole., Discussion: Greater effort is needed to bring about evidence based antibiotic prescribing in Malaysian primary care, especially for URTIs in private clinics.
- Published
- 2011