Changing Use of Antibiotics in Community-Based Outpatient Practice, 1991–1999

View larger version (47K): [in a new window]   Figure 1. Antibiotic prescribing among adults between 1991–1992 and 1998–1999. Overall use of antibiotics decreased in adult visits for the common cold and unspecified upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) (P = 0.011), for pharyngitis (P = 0.02), and for acute bronchitis (P < 0.001). Among adults receiving an antibiotic, broad-spectrum agents made up an increased proportion of antibiotic prescriptions for each condition shown (for pharyngitis, P = 0.002; for all other conditions, P < 0.001). (Results are shown at the level of the patient visit: Broad spectrum indicates visits involving at least one broad-spectrum antibiotic; narrow spectrum indicates visits involving only narrow-spectrum agents.) The mean number of visits occurring annually during the study period is shown for each condition. UTI = urinary tract infection.

View larger version (42K): [in a new window]   Figure 2. Antibiotic prescribing among children between 1991–1992 and 1998–1999. Overall use of antibiotics decreased in pediatric visits for the common cold and unspecified upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) (P < 0.001) and for pharyngitis (P = 0.002). Among children receiving an antibiotic, broad-spectrum agents made up an increased proportion of antibiotic prescriptions for each condition shown (for P values, see text). (Results are shown at the level of the patient visit: Broad spectrum indicates visits involving at least one broad-spectrum antibiotic; narrow spectrum indicates visits involving only narrow-spectrum agents.) The mean number of visits occurring annually during the study period is shown for each condition.

View larger version (29K): [in a new window]   Figure 3. Use of broad-spectrum antibiotics for selected conditions. Among adults, use of broad-spectrum agents increased for urinary tract infections (UTIs) and for the common cold and unspecified upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) (P < 0.001 for both conditions). Among children, use of broad-spectrum agents increased for otitis media (P = 0.044) and for the common cold and URTIs (P < 0.001).