Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Faculty of Medical Sciences, University "Goce Delcev", Stip, Macedonia.
Eur J Public Health. 2018 Aug 1;28(4):724-729. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckx240.
Nation-wide multifaceted interventions to improve antibiotic use were undertaken in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in September 2014. This study aimed to assess the parental knowledge and attitudes about antibiotics, and self-medication practices in children, and evaluate the impact of interventions on these parameters.
Pre-post-intervention surveys were conducted in May 2014-16 in three administrative regions in the country. Data were collected by interviewing parents of children younger than 15 years of age through a questionnaire. The analysis of knowledge, attitudes and antibiotic use involved descriptive quantitative statistics. The effects of interventions were assessed by a logistic and linear regression analysis.
Data from 1203 interviewees showed that 80% of parents knew that antibiotics could kill bacteria, while 40% believed antibiotics could kill viruses. One third of parents expressed potential dissatisfaction with doctors who would not agree with them on antibiotic use. More parents received information about not taking antibiotics unnecessarily after the interventions, but the rates decreased one year later. At baseline, 20% of the parents and 10% of the children who received antibiotics in previous year, took them without prescriptions. Parental self-medication rates did not change over time, while children rates decreased only in 2015.
The insignificant and short-term changes in knowledge, attitudes and self-medication demonstrate that interventions need to be implemented for a longer period of time, at a large scale, with active health providers' engagement, and accompanied by inspections to promote appropriate use of antibiotics and discourage self-medication.
2014 年 9 月，前南斯拉夫的马其顿共和国开展了全国范围内的多方面干预措施，以改善抗生素的使用。本研究旨在评估父母对儿童抗生素的知识和态度，以及自我用药的情况，并评估干预措施对这些参数的影响。
2014 年 5 月至 16 日，在该国的三个行政区域进行了干预前后的调查。通过问卷调查，对 15 岁以下儿童的家长进行了访谈，收集了数据。知识、态度和抗生素使用的分析采用描述性定量统计。通过逻辑回归和线性回归分析评估干预的效果。
来自 1203 名受访者的数据显示，80%的父母知道抗生素可以杀死细菌，而 40%的父母认为抗生素可以杀死病毒。三分之一的父母对不同意他们使用抗生素的医生表示不满。更多的父母在干预后收到了关于不必要使用抗生素的信息，但一年后这一比例下降。在基线时，20%的父母和 10%的前一年接受过抗生素治疗的儿童未经处方服用抗生素。父母的自我用药率没有随时间变化，而儿童的自我用药率仅在 2015 年有所下降。
知识、态度和自我用药方面的变化微不足道且短暂，表明干预措施需要更长时间、更大规模地实施，需要积极参与卫生提供者，并进行检查，以促进抗生素的合理使用和抑制自我用药。
