ArticleBMJ open2018
How patients' experiences of respiratory tract infections affect healthcare-seeking and antibiotic use: insights from a cross-sectional survey in rural Anhui, China.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Eliciting parents' decision-making to antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infections: A discrete choice experiment.Journal of global health · 2024Pooled it
- Exploring consumer experiences of pharmacist prescribing - a scoping review.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Review
- Social determinants of health and knowledge, attitude and practice studies on antimicrobial resistance-an evidence review and future direction.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- In search of pragmatic measures and models from routinely collected electronic records to inform continuous optimization of antibiotics stewardship at primary care settings: preliminary findings from Anhui, China.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Status and implications of the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards AWaRe antibiotic use, resistance and stewardship among low- and middle-income countries.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Review
- Article
- Influences on treatment-seeking and antibiotic use for common illnesses in eastern China.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Relationships Between Diagnosis, Bacterial Isolation, and Antibiotic Prescription in Out Patients With Respiratory Tract Infection Symptoms in Rural Anhui, China.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Development and randomized controlled trial of an animated film aimed at reducing behaviours for acquiring antibiotics.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2021Article
- Clinical diagnosis and treatment of common respiratory tract infections in relation to microbiological profiles in rural health facilities in China: implications for antibiotic stewardship.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Precarity and clinical determinants of healthcare-seeking behaviour and antibiotic use in rural Laos and Thailand.BMJ global health · 2020Article
- The impact of physicians' knowledge on outpatient antibiotic use: Evidence from China's county hospitals.Medicine · 2020Article
- Health service utilization following symptomatic respiratory tract infections and influencing factors among urban and rural residents in Anhui, China.Primary health care research & development · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the occurrence of reported respiratory tract infection (RTI) symptoms and their effects on use of self and professional care among patients in the community.
designA cross-sectional retrospective household survey.
setting12 administrative villages from rural Anhui, China.
participants2160 rural adult residents aged ≥18 years registered as rural residents and actually living in the sampled villages when this study was conducted.
methodThe respondents were recruited using stratified-clustered randomised sampling. A structured questionnaire was deployed to solicit information about social demographics, symptoms of last RTI and healthcare-seeking following the RTI. Descriptive analyses were performed to investigate the reported symptoms, and multivariate logistic regression models were developed to identify relationships between number of concurrent symptoms and healthcare-seeking and antibiotics use.
resultsA total of 1968 residents completed the survey, resulting in a response rate of 91.1%. The number of concurrent symptoms showed a clear increasing trend with seeking help from clinics and being prescribed antibiotics. Multivariate regression revealed statistically significant associations between the following: (a) visiting clinics and education (OR=0.790), sore throat (OR=1.355), cough (OR=1.492), shortness of breath (OR=1.707) and fever (OR=2.142); (b) buying medicine from shops without prescription and education (OR=1.230) and cough (OR=1.452); (c) getting antibiotics at clinics and sore throat (OR=2.05) and earache and/or tinnitus (OR=4.884); and (d) obtaining antibiotics at medicine shops and productive cough (OR=1.971).
conclusionsReported RTI symptoms play an important role in shaping both patient- and doctor-led responses.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.