Antimicrobial prescribing for children in primary care

Abstract

AIM: To describe the patterns of antimicrobial prescribing in general practice for children aged ≤18 years. METHODS: This is a review of routinely collected patient data extracted from computerised medical records from 39 general practices in eastern metropolitan Melbourne over a 5-year period, 2010-2014. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of paediatric consultations resulting in antibiotic prescription, type and frequency of antibiotics prescribed, antibiotic prescribing stratified by age, reason for indication and inter-practice variation. RESULTS: There were 744 883 consultations for 89 983 individual paediatric patients and 85 913 prescriptions for antibiotics during the study period. Of ..