ArticleBMJ open2019
Factors associated with antibiotic prescribing in patients with acute respiratory tract complaints in Malta: a 1-year repeated cross-sectional surveillance study.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03218930 (Maltese Antibiotic Stewardship Programme in the Community), which is not on this map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Maltese Antibiotic Stewardship Programme in the Community (MASPIC): a Prospective Quasi-experimental Social Marketing Intervention
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early-career general practitioners' antibiotic prescribing for acute infections: a systematic review.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2024Pooled it
- Public awareness and knowledge of antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance in Malta.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Barriers and Facilitators to Antimicrobial Stewardship in Antibiotic Prescribing and Dispensing by General Practitioners and Pharmacists in Malta: A Systematic Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- Factors Associated with Geographical Variability of Antimicrobial Use in Japan.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2023Article
- A scoping review and behavioural analysis of factors underlying overuse of antimicrobials.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2023Article
- Assessment of Prescribing Practices and Factors Related to Antibiotic Prescribing in Community Pharmacies.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- General Practitioners', Pharmacists' and Parents' Views on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in Malta: An Exploratory Qualitative Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Development and validation of antibiotic stewardship metrics for outpatient respiratory tract diagnoses and association of provider characteristics with inappropriate prescribing.Infection control and hospital epidemiology · 2022Article
- Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, Perception and Reported Practices of Healthcare Providers on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in Pregnancy, Childbirth and Children under Two in Lao PDR: A Mixed Methods Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Antibacterial prescription and the associated factors among outpatients diagnosed with respiratory tract infections in Mbarara Municipality, Uganda.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2021Article
- Antibiotic use but not gastrointestinal infection frequently precedes first diagnosis of functional gastrointestinal disorders.United European gastroenterology journal · 2021Article
- Knowledge about infections is associated with antibiotic use: cross-sectional evidence from the health survey Northern Ireland.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Antibiotic prescriptions for children younger than 5 years with acute upper respiratory infections in China: a retrospective nationwide claims database study.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Article
- Impact of a Social Marketing Intervention on General Practitioners' Antibiotic Prescribing Practices for Acute Respiratory Tract Complaints in Malta.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Article
- Time Trends and Factors Associated with Antibiotic Prescribing in Swiss Primary Care (2008 to 2020).Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Antibiotic prescription for febrile outpatients: a health facility-based secondary data analysis for the Greater Accra region of Ghana.BMC health services research · 2020Article
- Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Among Chinese Pharmacy Customers: A Multicenter Survey Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo identify factors that influence general practitioners' (GPs') oral antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract complaints (aRTCs) in Malta.
designRepeated, cross-sectional surveillance.
settingMaltese general practice; both public health centres and private GP clinics.
participants30 GPs registered on the Malta Medical Council's Specialist Register and 3 GP trainees registered data of 4831 patients of all ages suffering from any aRTC. Data were collected monthly between May 2015 and April 2016 during predetermined 1-week periods. OUTCOME MEASURES: The outcome of interest was antibiotic prescription (yes/no), defined as an oral antibiotic prescription issued for an aRTC during an in-person consultation, irrespective of the number of antibiotics given. The association between GP, practice and consultation-level factors, patient sociodemographic factors and patient health status factors, and antibiotic prescription was investigated.
resultsThe antibiotic prescription rate was 45.0%. Independent factors positively associated with antibiotic prescribing included female GP sex (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.22 to 4.26), GP age with GPs ≥60 being the most likely (OR 34.7, 95% CI 14.14 to 84.98), patient age with patients ≥65 being the most likely (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.71 to 3.18), number of signs and/or symptoms with patients having ≥4 being the most likely (OR 9.6, 95% CI 5.78 to 15.99), fever (OR 2.6, 95% CI 2.08 to 3.26), productive cough (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.61), otalgia (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.76), tender cervical nodes (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.57 to 3.05), regular clients (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.66), antibiotic requests (OR 4.8, 95% CI 2.52 to 8.99) and smoking (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.71). Conversely, patients with non-productive cough (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.41), sore throat (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.78), rhinorrhoea (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.36) or dyspnoea (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.83) were less likely to receive an antibiotic prescription.
conclusionAntibiotic prescribing for aRTCs was high and influenced by a number of factors. Potentially inappropriate prescribing in primary care can be addressed through multifaceted interventions addressing modifiable factors associated with prescription. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03218930.
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