Evidence map›Paper›PMID 14601353›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2003

The reducing incidence of respiratory tract infection and its relation to antibiotic prescribing.

Douglas M Fleming, Andrew M Ross, Kenneth W Cross, Helen Kendall

Open access · greenAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
36citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
6.8field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
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  9. Article
  10. Respiratory tract infections in children in primary healthcare in Poland.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2015
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Managing self-limiting respiratory tract infections: a qualitative study of the usefulness of the delayed prescribing strategy.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011
    Article
  14. Respiratory fluoroquinolone use and influenza.Infection control and hospital epidemiology · 2011
    Article
  15. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in primary care investigated by real-time PCR in England and Wales.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2011
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Decreasing incidence of adenotonsillar problems in Dutch general practice: real or artefact?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2009
    Article
  18. Reduced antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections in adults and children.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2009
    Article
  19. Increasing hospital admissions for pneumonia, England.Emerging infectious diseases · 2008
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Douglas M FlemingBirmingham Research Unit, Royal College of General Practitioners, 54 Lordswood Road, Harborne, Birmingham B17 9DB. dfleming@rcgpbhamresunit.nhs.uk
Andrew M Ross
Kenneth W Cross
Helen Kendall
Royal College of General Practitioners · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is good evidence of reduced prescribing of antibiotics in recent years, but the reason for this has not been established.

aimTo study the incidence of respiratory tract infections presenting to general practitioners (GPs) in England and Wales in relation to the incidence of other infections and to the prescription of antibiotics.

settingSentinel practices in England and Wales who contribute to the Weekly Returns Service (WRS) of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

designTime-series analysis of disease incidence data reported by the practices and of antibiotic prescription data from the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA) during the years 1994-2000.

methodIncidence data reported weekly from 73 practices in England and Wales, serving a population of 600,000, for acute respiratory tract infections, otitis media, infectious mononucleosis, shingles, urinary tract infections, and skin infections, were consolidated into quarterly datasets and examined graphically for evidence of secular and seasonal trends. Trends in antibiotic prescription items (data for England only were supplied by the PPA) were examined for association after adjustment for seasonal variation.

resultsThe incidence of respiratory tract infections and antibiotic prescribing showed virtually identical seasonal variation, with both declining from 1995: respiratory tract infections by 48% in winter and 38% in summer, and antibiotic prescriptions by 34% and 21%, respectively. Trends in both were very highly correlated. The incidence of shingles and skin infections was constant. The incidence of urinary tract infections declined by 10%. The incidence of otitis media in children and acute bronchitis in the elderly followed the all-age trend in the reduction of respiratory tract infections.

conclusionThe considerable reduction in the incidence of respiratory tract infections between 1995 and 2000 is the main reason for the decline in antibiotic prescribing rather than changing prescribing thresholds for antibiotics.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsData CollectionEnglandFemaleHumansIncidenceMalePractice Patterns, Physicians'Respiratory Tract InfectionsWalesAnti-Bacterial Agents

Identifiers

PMID14601353
PMCPMC1314710
OpenAlexW2161320052

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.