Otitis media-related antibiotic prescribing patterns, outcomes, and expenditures in a pediatric medicaid population.

BACKGROUND: Treatment of otitis media is the most frequent reason for administering antibiotics to children in the United States. However, only limited data are available on medical effectiveness of antibiotic prescribing patterns for otitis media and their associated expenditures or the factors that influence antibiotic prescribing. METHODS: The study population consisted of 131 169 children during 1991 and 157 065 children during 1992 who were