ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2019
Relationship between prescribing of antibiotics and other medicines in primary care: a cross-sectional study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Factors contributing to the variation in antibiotic prescribing among primary health care physicians: a systematic review.BMC primary care · 2024Pooled it
- Predictors of high-performing family medicine clinics: Prospective cohort study in Alberta.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2026Article
- Association between high-intensity antibiotic prescribing and prescribing of psychotropic drugs in children: a population-based study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Prescribing Patterns of High Opioid and Antibiotic Prescribers, Washington State, 2021: Do Some Prescribers Have Trouble Saying No?Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
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- Estimating variations in the use of antibiotics in primary care: Insights from the Tuscany region, Italy.The International journal of health planning and management · 2022Article
- PrAna: an R package to calculate and visualize England NHS primary care prescribing data.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2022Article
- Antibacterial prescription and the associated factors among outpatients diagnosed with respiratory tract infections in Mbarara Municipality, Uganda.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2021Article
- Establishing a primary care audit and feedback implementation laboratory: a consensus study.Implementation science communications · 2021Article
- Factors predicting statin prescribing for primary prevention: a historical cohort study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Social and Contextual Influences on Antibiotic Prescribing and Antimicrobial Stewardship: A Qualitative Study with Clinical Commissioning Group and General Practice Professionals.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
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- General practitioners' accounts of negotiating antibiotic prescribing decisions with patients: a qualitative study on what influences antibiotic prescribing in low, medium and high prescribing practices.BMC family practice · 2019Article
- Evaluating the Appropriateness of Antibiotic Treatment of Tonsillitis during COVID-19 in the North Wale Primary Healthcare Setting.Journal of primary care & community healthObservational
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHigh levels of antibiotic prescribing are a major concern as they drive antimicrobial resistance. It is currently unknown whether practices that prescribe higher levels of antibiotics also prescribe more medicines in general.
aimTo evaluate the relationship between antibiotic and general prescribing levels in primary care. DESIGN AND
settingCross-sectional study in 2014-2015 of 6517 general practices in England using NHS digital practice prescribing data (NHS-DPPD) for the main study, and of 587 general practices in the UK using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink for a replication study.
methodLinear regression to assess determinants of antibiotic prescribing.
resultsNHS-DPPD practices prescribed an average of 576.1 antibiotics per 1000 patients per year (329.9 at the 5th percentile and 808.7 at the 95th percentile). The levels of prescribing of antibiotics and other medicines were strongly correlated. Practices with high levels of prescribing of other medicines (a rate of 27 159.8 at the 95th percentile) prescribed 80% more antibiotics than low-prescribing practices (rate of 8815.9 at the 5th percentile). After adjustment, NHS-DPPD practices with high prescribing of other medicines gave 60% more antibiotic prescriptions than low-prescribing practices (corresponding to higher prescribing of 276.3 antibiotics per 1000 patients per year). Prescribing of non-opioid painkillers and benzodiazepines were also strong indicators of the level of antibiotic prescribing. General prescribing levels were a much stronger driver for antibiotic prescribing than other risk factors, such as deprivation.
conclusionThe propensity of GPs to prescribe medications generally is an important driver for antibiotic prescribing. Interventions that aim to optimise antibiotic prescribing will need to target general prescribing behaviours, in addition to specifically targeting antibiotics.
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