Abstract
Objective. To identify variations in antibiotic treatment of acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) on a national level. Study Design. Cross-sectional study of a national database. Setting. Otolaryngology and primary care ambulatory settings. Subjects and Methods. A nationally representative sample of adult outpatient visits was extracted from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Care Survey data for 2006 to 2009. Antibiotic prescriptions associated with ARS were tabulated. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify variations in antibiotic prescribing by patient and physician characteristics. Results. Antibiotics were prescribed in 82.3% 6 2.6% of 18.7 million visits for ARS (mean age, 46.2 years; 65.9% female). The ratio of primary care physician (PCP) to otolaryngologist (ENT) ARS visits was 18.6:1. Antibiotic prescription rates were inversely related to increasing age groups of 18 to 39, 40 to 64, and 65 years (87.8%, 81.2%, and 71.0%, respectively; P = .02). Physicians in general medicine outpatient departments, internal medicine, and family medicine were more likely to prescribe antibiotics compared with ENTs (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 7.9 [95% confidence interval (CI), 3.5-17.8]; 6.9 [2.5-19.2]; and 3.9 [2.0-7.7], respectively). The most commonly prescribed antibiotics were azithromycin, amoxicillin, and amoxicillin/clavulanate acid (27.5%, 15.5%, and 14.6%, respectively). The ENTs selected broad-spectrum antibiotics more often than PCPs (94.3% vs 75.7% of visits with antibiotics were broad-spectrum agents; P = .01). Conclusion. Antibiotics were prescribed frequently despite recent consensus guidelines that discourage antibiotic use in mild cases. Furthermore, antibiotic prescription was more likely for younger patients and in primary care settings. This highlights the need to promote awareness of practice guidelines.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 852-859 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (United States) |
Volume | 148 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2013 |
Funding
Funding source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Research for this article was done in large part while Dr Smith was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Healthcare Studies, supported by an institutional award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, T-32 HS 000078 (principal investigator Jane L. Holl, MD, MPH). The funding organization did not have a role in study design or conduct; collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data; or writing or approval of the manuscript.
Keywords
- Acute rhinosinusitis
- Antibiotics
- Health services research
- Namcs
- Nhamcs
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Otorhinolaryngology