The Behavior of Primary Healthcare Doctors Toward Antibiotic Prescriptions for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections.

BACKGROUND

Unnecessary prescription of antibiotics for patients with upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) carries the potential risk to the development of bacterial resistance.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the behavior of primary healthcare (PHC) physicians toward an antibiotic prescription for URTI, Al-Madinah City, Saudi Arabia in 2021.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted at PHC centers in Al-Madinah City, Saudi Arabia. The study invited all physicians in the randomly selected 28 PHC centers to participate in the study. A master sheet adopted from a researcher done in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia about the pattern of prescription for URTI was used and included data about socio-demographic characteristics and data about presenting symptoms and signs of URTIs, the clinical diagnosis, type of medication prescribed, and duration of treatment also, included data about the factors that press physicians to prescribe antibiotics and their response. The questionnaire was filled out and returned back by 140 physicians. The collected data were analyzed and tabulated using appropriate statistical tests.

RESULTS

The mean age of the studied physicians was 34.4 ± 7.6 years (25-59 years). General practitioners and specialists were 66.4% and 33.6%, respectively. The prevalence of antibiotic prescriptions was 44.3%. The most prescribed antibiotics were amoxicillin (58.6%) and Augmentin (28.6%). Congested tonsils (87.1%), ear discharge (84.2%), and cervical lymphadenopathy (89.3%) were the most clinical factors that affected physicians' decisions to prescribe antibiotics for URTI. The non-clinical factors affecting physicians' decisions include patient request (52.8%) and press (28.5%), with no statistically significant difference detected between general practitioners and specialists.

CONCLUSION

The study findings indicate the need to develop intervention programs targeting physicians as well as the general population to decrease inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions in primary care centers.