Iuhas Alin, Galiș Radu, Rus Marius, Balmoș Andreea, Marinău Cristian, Niulaș Larisa, Futaki Zsolt, Matioc Dorina, Sava Cristian
Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410087 Oradea, Romania.
Bihor County Clinical Emergency Hospital, 410167 Oradea, Romania.
Antibiotics (Basel). 2025 May 9;14(5):479. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics14050479.
Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global health threat, with antibiotic misuse in pediatric populations being a significant contributing factor. In Romania, antibiotic consumption and resistance rates are among the highest in Europe.
To assess Romanian parents' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding antibiotic use in children, and to identify key misconceptions and behavioral risks contributing to inappropriate antibiotic use.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 parents of hospitalized children in a pediatric department in Romania. Participants completed a 15 item structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and binary logistic regression to examine associations and control for potential confounding effects between education level, residential environment, and parental misconceptions regarding antibiotic use.
Among the 400 surveyed caregivers, 86% ( = 344) held at least one misconception regarding antibiotic use. Additionally, 42.5% ( = 170) of participants reported that they had never heard of the concept of antibiotic resistance. Misconceptions were significantly more prevalent among individuals with lower levels of education and those residing in rural areas ( < 0.001). While 89.8% ( = 359) stated that they had never administered antibiotics to their children without a physician's recommendation, a separate subset of 28% ( = 112) acknowledged that they had asked a doctor to prescribe antibiotics for their child. Moreover, 23.3% ( = 93) reported seeking a second medical opinion when antibiotics were not initially prescribed.
Despite high adherence to medical advice, widespread misconceptions persist. These findings highlight the need for targeted, population-specific educational interventions to promote rational antibiotic use and address AMR in high-burden settings like Romania.
抗菌药物耐药性是全球日益严重的健康威胁，儿科人群中抗生素的不当使用是一个重要的促成因素。在罗马尼亚，抗生素消费量和耐药率位居欧洲最高之列。
评估罗马尼亚父母关于儿童使用抗生素的知识、态度和行为，并确定导致不当使用抗生素的主要误解和行为风险。
对罗马尼亚一家儿科住院部的400名患儿家长进行了横断面调查。参与者完成了一份包含15个条目的结构化问卷。使用描述性统计、卡方检验和二元逻辑回归分析数据，以检验教育水平、居住环境与父母关于抗生素使用的误解之间的关联，并控制潜在的混杂效应。
在400名接受调查的照料者中，86%（n = 344）至少持有一种关于抗生素使用的误解。此外，42.5%（n = 170）的参与者表示他们从未听说过抗生素耐药性的概念。在教育程度较低和居住在农村地区的个体中，误解更为普遍（P < 0.001）。虽然89.8%（n = 359）表示他们从未在没有医生建议的情况下给孩子使用抗生素，但另有28%（n = 112）承认他们曾要求医生为孩子开抗生素。此外，23.3%（n = 93）报告在最初未开抗生素时寻求了第二种医疗意见。
尽管高度遵循医疗建议，但普遍存在的误解仍然存在。这些发现凸显了在罗马尼亚等高负担环境中开展有针对性的、针对特定人群的教育干预措施以促进合理使用抗生素和应对抗菌药物耐药性的必要性。
