Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25630870›Full record

ArticleBMC family practice2015

Prescribing style and variation in antibiotic prescriptions for sore throat: cross-sectional study across six countries.

Gloria Cordoba, Volkert Siersma, Beatriz Lopez-Valcarcel, Lars Bjerrum, Carl Llor, Rune Aabenhus, Marjukka Makela

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC family practice, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
30citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Article
  6. Physician antimicrobial prescribing and patient outcomes on general medical wards: a multicentre retrospective cohort study.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2023
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  20. Visualizing nationwide variation in medicare Part D prescribing patterns.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2018
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Gloria CordobaThe Research Unit for General Practice and Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, ØsterFarimagsgade 5, P. O. Box 2099, DK-1440, Copenhagen, Denmark. gloriac@sund.ku.dk.
Volkert SiersmaThe Research Unit for General Practice and Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, ØsterFarimagsgade 5, P. O. Box 2099, DK-1440, Copenhagen, Denmark. siersma@sund.ku.dk.
Beatriz Lopez-ValcarcelUniversityof Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Universitario de Tafira, Las Palmas de GC, CanaryIslands, Spain. bvalcarcel@dmc.ulpgc.es.
Lars BjerrumThe Research Unit for General Practice and Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, ØsterFarimagsgade 5, P. O. Box 2099, DK-1440, Copenhagen, Denmark. lbjerrum@sund.ku.dk.
Carl LlorUniversity Rovira i Virgili, Spanish Society of Family Medicine, Primary Healthcare Centre Jaume I, Tarragona, Spain. carles.llor@urv.cat.
Rune AabenhusThe Research Unit for General Practice and Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, ØsterFarimagsgade 5, P. O. Box 2099, DK-1440, Copenhagen, Denmark. runa@sund.ku.dk.
Marjukka MakelaThe Research Unit for General Practice and Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, ØsterFarimagsgade 5, P. O. Box 2099, DK-1440, Copenhagen, Denmark. marjukka.makela@thl.fi.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundVariation in prescription of antibiotics in primary care can indicate poor clinical practice that contributes to the increase of resistant strains. General Practitioners (GPs), as a professional group, are expected to have a fairly homogeneous prescribing style. In this paper, we describe variation in prescribing style within and across groups of GPs from six countries.

methodsCross-sectional study with the inclusion of 457 GPs and 6394 sore throat patients. We describe variation in prescribing antibiotics for sore throat patients across six countries and assess whether variation in "prescribing style"--understood as a subjective tendency to prescribe--has an important effect on variation in prescription of antibiotics by using the concept of prescribing style as a latent variable in a multivariable model. We report variation as a Median Odds Ratio (MOR) which is the transformation of the random effect variance onto an odds ratio; Thus, MOR = 1 means similar odds or strict homogeneity between GPs' prescribing style, while a MOR higher than 1 denotes heterogeneity in prescribing style.

resultsIn all countries some GPs always prescribed antibiotics to all their patients, while other GPs never did. After adjusting for patient and GP characteristics, prescribing style in the group of GPs from Russia was about three times more heterogeneous than the prescribing style in the group of GPs from Denmark--Median Odds Ratio (6.8, 95% CI 3.1;8.8) and (2.6, 95% CI 2.2;4.4) respectively.

conclusionPrescribing style is an important source of variation in prescription of antibiotics within and across countries, even after adjusting for patient and GP characteristics. Interventions aimed at influencing the prescribing style of GPs must encompass context-specific actions at the policy-making level alongside GP-targeted interventions to enable GPs to react more objectively to the external demands that are in place when making the decision of prescribing antibiotics or not.

Indexed as

General PracticeAdultAnti-Bacterial AgentsCross-Sectional StudiesDecision MakingFemaleHumansMalePharyngitisPractice Patterns, Physicians'Primary Health CareAnti-Bacterial Agents

Identifiers

PMID25630870
PMCPMC4316394

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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.