RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Irrational antibiotic prescribing as a global health problem has a major influence on medical care quality and healthcare expenditure. This study was aimed to determine the pattern of antibiotic use and to assess the seasonality and physician-related factors associated with variability in antibiotic prescribing in Isfahan province of Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted on all prescriptions issued by general physicians from rural and urban areas in 2011. Associations between season of prescribing and physician-related variables including gender, practice location and time since graduation with antibiotic prescriptions and also the pattern of antibiotic prescribing were assessed using Chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression models. RESULTS: Of the 7439709 prescriptions issued by 3772 general practitioners, 51% contained at least one antibiotic. Penicillins were the most frequently prescribed antibiotics, followed by cephalosporins and macrolides. Over-prescription of penicillins was associated with female gender (odds ratio [OR], 2.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.13-3.19) and with moderate duration of time in practice (10-20 years) (OR, 1.42; 95% CI 1.14-1.76). Higher rates of cephalosporins prescription were observed in urban areas than rural areas and by male physicians. Seasonal peak was detected for penicillins and cephalosporins prescriptions in autumn. CONCLUSIONS: These findings showed the widespread use of antibiotics by general practitioners that was associated with the physicians' gender, time since graduation and practice location and also season of prescribing. More researches are needed on other factors related to the overprescribing of antibiotics and they could be used to project educational programs for improvement of antibiotic prescribing quality in our country.
RESUMO
Rational prescribing increases the quality of health care and patient outcomes. In this study, the quality of drug prescription in specialist physicians in Isfahan province of Iran was assessed for evaluating the rational use of drugs and improving the therapeutic outcomes. This retrospective survey was conducted on a total of 7999530 prescriptions from all general and specialist physicians. The most frequently prescribed drugs and World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators were evaluated in prescriptions of all medical specialties. Assessment of prescribing indicators revealed poor-quality prescribing performance by general practitioners including high number of medicines prescribed per clients, wide range of prescribed medicines in each prescription, over-prescribing of antibiotics, corticosteroids and injectable drugs. There were also wide differences in the pattern of drug prescribing depending on the medical specialties. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter by specialists was less than generalists except for the cardiologists. General practitioners, otorhinolaryngologists and general surgeons prescribed more antibiotics. Orthopedic surgeons and general practitioners were the top prescribers of injectable and corticosteroid drugs. The most frequently prescribed medicine groups varied according to the prescribers' medical specialty. Analgesics and antipyretics were the most prescribed preparations in general medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, general surgery and cardiology. Because of the wide variability in the pattern of drug prescribing depending on the medical specialties, specific performance indicators should be developed for each specific medical specialty for better assessing of prescribing quality in specialist physicians.
