Prescribing Antibiotics in Public Primary Care Clinics in Singapore: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Antibiotics (Basel)
; 12(4)2023 Apr 16.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2298064
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Antibiotic prescription practices in primary care in Singapore have received little scholarly attention. In this study, we ascertained prescription prevalence and identified care gaps and predisposing factors.METHODS:
A retrospective study was conducted on adults (>21 years old) at six public primary care clinics in Singapore. Prescriptions >14 days were excluded. Descriptive statistics were used to showcase the prevalence data. We used chi-square and logistic regression analyses to identify the factors affecting care gaps.RESULTS:
A total of 141,944 (4.33%) oral and 108,357 (3.31%) topical antibiotics were prescribed for 3,278,562 visits from 2018 to 2021. There was a significant reduction in prescriptions (p < 0.01) before and after the pandemic, which was attributed to the 84% reduction in prescriptions for respiratory conditions. In 2020 to 2021, oral antibiotics were most prescribed for skin (37.7%), genitourinary (20.2%), and respiratory conditions (10.8%). Antibiotic use in the "Access" group (WHO AWaRe classification) improved from 85.6% (2018) to 92.1% (2021). Areas of improvement included a lack of documentation of reasons for antibiotic use, as well as inappropriate antibiotic prescription for skin conditions.CONCLUSION:
There was a marked reduction in antibiotic prescriptions associated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies could address the gaps identified here and evaluate private-sector primary care to inform antibiotic guidelines and the local development of stewardship programs.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Etiology study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Antibiotics12040762
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