American Children Continue To Receive Antibiotics Inappropriately, AHRQ Researchers Find

Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing continues for American children, despite efforts to educate providers about the risks of creating antibiotic-resistant infections, according to a new AHRQ-funded study. Researchers found that 27.3 percent of American children used at least one antibiotic each year during the 2004-2010 study period. About 69 percent of those children received antibiotics to treat common upper respiratory infections such as pharyngitis, pneumonia and ear infections. In addition, significant proportions of children received antibiotics to treat three conditions – bronchitis, sinusitis and the common cold – for which antibiotics are rarely prescribed. Researchers also found that 18.5 percent of these children used narrow-spectrum antibiotics and 12.8 percent used broad-spectrum antibiotics. AHRQ’s Eric M. Sarpong, Ph.D., and G. Edward Miller, Ph.D., conducted the study, “Narrow and Broad Spectrum Antibiotic Use Among U.S. Children,” which appeared online with an abstract November 25 in Health Services Research. The researchers concluded that, despite encouraging reports on the declining use of antibiotics, further improvement is needed in the appropriate prescribing of antibiotics for children.

2014 Nov 25. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12260. [Epub ahead of print]

Narrow- and Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Use among U.S. Children.

Sarpong EM1, Miller GE.

Author information

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To provide updated estimates of narrow- and broad-spectrum antibiotic use among U.S. children.

DATA SOURCES:

Linked nationally representative data from the 2004-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component and the 2000 Decennial Census.

STUDY DESIGN:

Relationships between individual-, family-, and community-level characteristics and the use of antibiotics overall and in the treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are examined using multinomial choice models.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:

More than one quarter (27.3 percent) of children used at least one antibiotic each year with 12.8 percent using broad-spectrum and 18.5 percent using narrow-spectrum antibiotics. Among children with use, more than two-thirds (68.6 percent) used antibiotics to treat RTIs. Multivariate models revealed many differences across groups in antibiotic use, overall and in the treatment of RTIs. Differential use was associated with a broad range of factors related to need (e.g., age, health status), resources (e.g., insurance status, parental income, and education), race-ethnicity, and Census region.

CONCLUSIONS:

Despite encouraging reports regarding the declining use of antibiotics, large differences in use associated with resources, race-ethnicity, and Census regions suggest a need for further improvement in the judicious and appropriate prescribing of antibiotics for U.S. children.