Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28333200›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy2017

Antibiotic prescribing frequency amongst patients in primary care: a cohort study using electronic health records.

Laura Shallcross, Nick Beckley, Greta Rait, Andrew Hayward, Irene Petersen

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
59citing papers in PubMed
–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

59 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Improving Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing for Respiratory Tract Infections in Primary Care: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Trial.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2022
    Trial
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  4. Review
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  9. Review
  10. Health and Psychological Predictors of Antibiotic Use in Infancy and Fathers' Role.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Epidemiological characteristics of antimicrobial use in Primary Care in Spain: a nationwide study.Revista espanola de quimioterapia : publicacion oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Quimioterapia · 2025
    Observational
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Prescriber-level surveillance of outpatient antimicrobial consumption to enable targeted antimicrobial stewardship: a nationwide observational study, Switzerland, 2015 to 2022.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2024
    Observational
  18. Article
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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

5 authors.

Laura ShallcrossUCL Institute of Health Informatics, 222 Euston Road, London NW1 2DA, UK.
Nick BeckleyResearch Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK.
Greta RaitResearch Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK.
Andrew HaywardUCL Institute of Health Informatics, 222 Euston Road, London NW1 2DA, UK.
Irene PetersenResearch Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in primary care is a public health priority. Objectives: We hypothesized that a subset of patients account for the majority of antibiotic prescriptions in primary care. We investigated the relationship between the total amount of antibiotics prescribed, individual-level antibiotic use and comorbidity. Methods: This was a cohort study using electronic health records from 1 948 390 adults registered with 385 primary care practices in the UK in 2011-13. We estimated the average number of antibiotic prescriptions per patient and the association between prescribing and comorbidity. We modelled the impact on total prescribing of reducing antibiotic use in those prescribed antibiotics most frequently. Results: On average 30.1% (586 194/1 948 390) of patients were prescribed at least one antibiotic per year. Nine percent (174 602/1 948 390) of patients were prescribed 53% (2 091 496/3 922 732) of the total amount of antibiotics, each of whom received at least five antibiotic prescriptions over 3 years. The presence of any comorbidity increased the prescribing rate by 44% [adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.44, 95% CI 1.43-1.45]; rates of prescribing to women exceeded those in men by 62% (adjusted IRR 1.62, 95% CI 1.62-1.63). Conclusions: Half of antibiotics prescribed to adults in primary care were for <10% of patients. Efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance should consider the impact of this on total prescribing.

Indexed as

Electronic Health RecordsPrimary Health CareAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAnti-Bacterial AgentsCohort StudiesComorbidityContraindicationsDrug PrescriptionsFemaleHumansInappropriate PrescribingMaleMiddle AgedPractice Patterns, Physicians'Anti-Bacterial Agents

Identifiers

PMID28333200
PMCPMC5437523

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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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.