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Antibiotic usage in primary care units in Taiwan
- Source :
- International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 11:23-30
- Publication Year :
- 1999
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 1999.
-
Abstract
- To understand the situation of antibiotic usage in primary care units in Taiwan, we collected all prescriptions over a 1 week period during March 2 to March 7, 1992, December 2 to December 7, 1992, and January 14 to January 19, 1994 from out-patient clinics of public health stations located in various parts of Taiwan. In the first time period 60 health stations were sampled, 18,350 patient-visits made and 23,674 diagnoses recorded. In the second time period 168 health stations were sampled, 84,143 patient-visits made and 96,528 diagnoses recorded. In the third time period 173 health stations were sampled with 85,623 patient-visits and 105,132 diagnoses recorded. The percentages of total patient-visits that resulted in antibiotic treatment were 16.7, 13.5 and 12.4% in the three time periods, respectively. The patient group under the age of 11 received the highest percentage of antibiotic treatment. The percentage of patient-visits that resulted in treatment with two or more types of antibiotics decreased from 25.4% in March, 1992 to 13.2% in January, 1994. Common cold was the most frequent diagnosis in patients receiving antibiotic therapy during the three time periods and accounted for 36.9% of total antibiotic prescriptions. Of the patients with the diagnosis of common cold, 29.7% received antibiotic treatment, of whom the largest group were paediatric patients (16 years). Penicillins, macrolides and cephalosporins were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics and accounted for 34.0, 21.8 and 21.3% of all prescribed antibiotics in the three study periods.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Microbiology (medical)
Pediatrics
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
medicine.drug_class
Antibiotics
Taiwan
Primary care
Drug Utilization Review
Epidemiology
medicine
Humans
Pharmacology (medical)
In patient
Medical prescription
Child
Aged
Antibacterial agent
Primary Health Care
business.industry
Public health
Infant
Common cold
General Medicine
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Infectious Diseases
Child, Preschool
Emergency medicine
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 09248579
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....235291a4eaf77f15d72ca801e85b7033