Abstract
Antibiotics are the most prescribed drugs in children, often administered without
any specific diagnosis. In Italy, Family Pediatricians prescribe antibiotics more
frequently than in other Europe countries, the commonest being amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate
and cefaclor. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children up to 12 years
old, included in the database Pedianet, who received at least one prescription of
amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate or cefaclor during the period 1st January 2003 to 30th June 2007. 335,352 antibiotics prescriptions in 110,747 children were included in
the study. There were 168,458 prescriptions of amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate
or cefaclor, amounting to 50.2% of antibiotic prescriptions. The main indication was
unspecified-upper respiratory tract infection (26.5%). Overall, amoxicillin/clavulanate
was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in older children, while amoxicillin was
the most prescribed in younger patients. Amoxicillin was the most prescribed antibiotic
in all age groups (p < 0.0001) for upper respiratory tract infections, otitis media and acute bronchitis.
A therapeutic switch occurred in 0.6% of cases, and was most frequent in pneumonia.
This was a retrospective study carried out using software designed for the routine
practice and not for specific studies; therefore several limitations on the data interpretation
need to be considered especially on the diagnosis. However, the study shows that antibiotic
consumption in the Italian pediatric population exceeds the European average, with
three beta-lactam drugs accounting for over half of all antibiotic prescriptions.
Keywords
Pediatric antibiotics - amoxicillin/clavulanate - amoxicillin - cefaclor - antibiotics
- children
