Observational studyScandinavian journal of primary health care2021
Antibiotic prescribing in Danish general practice in the elderly population from 2010 to 2017.
Observational study in Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Clinical indications for antibiotic prescribing in Danish general practice.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Antibiotic treatment and antimicrobial resistance in urinary tract infections among the older population in Denmark, 1999 to 2023.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2026Article
- Article
- Overview of Methods for Assessing Antimicrobial Use in Outpatient Settings in High-Income Countries: A Narrative Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Temporal trends in revision rate due to knee periprosthetic joint infection: a study of 115,120 cases from the Danish Knee Arthroplasty Register.Acta orthopaedica · 2023Article
- Primary Care Antibiotic Prescribing and Infection-Related Hospitalisation.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Review
- Article
- Prior Antibiotic Use Increases Risk of Urinary Tract Infections Caused by ResistantAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Antibiotic Prescription in the Community-Dwelling Elderly Population in Lombardy, Italy: A Sub-Analysis of the EDU.RE.DRUG Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Antibiotic use in elderly patients in ambulatory care: A comparison between Hungary and Sweden.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to describe prescription of antibiotics to the elderly population in general practice in Denmark from 2010-2017.
designThis is a national register-based observational study.
settingGeneral practice, Denmark.
main outcome measureThe main outcome measure was prescriptions/1,000 inhabitants/day (PrID) in relation to year, age and sex, indication, and antibiotic agent. SUBJECTS: In this study, we included inhabitants of Denmark, ≥65 years of age between 01st July 2010-30th June 2017.
resultsA total of 5,168,878 prescriptions were included in the study. Antibiotic prescriptions decreased from 2.2 PrID to 1.7 (-26.9%, CI95% [-31.1;-22.4]) PrID during the study. The decrease in PrID was most noticeable among 65-74-year-olds (-25%). The ≥85-year-olds were exposed to twice as many PrID than the 65-74-year-olds, but only accounted for 20% of the total use. Urinary tract infection (UTI) was the most common indication for antibiotic prescription and increased with advancing age. The most commonly prescribed antibiotics were pivmecillinam and phenoxymethylpenicillin. Prescribing with no informative indication was present in one third of all cases.
conclusionThe prescription of antibiotics in the elderly population in general practice decreased from 2010 to 2017. The oldest age group was exposed twice as frequently to antibiotic prescriptions as the 65-74-year-olds. The smallest reduction was observed for the ≥85-year-olds, suggesting targeting interventions at this group.Key PointsHigh antibiotic use among elderly is well known and studies indicate mis- and overuse within this population. Our study shows.The prescription rate is decreasing within all age groups of the elderly population.The ≥85-year-olds receive twice as many prescriptions/1000/day as the 65-74-years-olds.
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