ArticleScandinavian journal of primary health care2022
Antibiotic use in Australian and Swedish primary care: a cross-country comparison.
Article in Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early-career general practitioners' antibiotic prescribing for acute infections: a systematic review.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2024Pooled it
- Epidemiology of penicillin allergy labels in a general Swedish population.The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global · 2026Article
- Mind the governance gap: a one health scoping review of national AMR performance indicators.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2026Article
- Most European countries will miss EU targets on antibacterial use by 2030: historical analysis of European and OECD countries, comparison of community and hospital sectors and forecast to 2040.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Factors influencing antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections in primary care - a comparison of physicians with different antibiotic prescribing rates.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2024Article
- Exploring the Preferences of the Australian Public for Antibiotic Treatments: A Discrete Choice Experiment.The patient · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveAntimicrobial resistance is a growing worldwide problem and is considered to be one of the biggest threats to global health by the World Health Organization. Insights into the determinants of antibiotic prescribing may be gained by comparing the antibiotic usage patterns of Australia and Sweden.
designPublicly available data on dispensed use of antibiotics in Australia and Sweden between 2006 and 2018. Medicine use was measured using defined daily dose per 1,000 inhabitants per day (DDD/1000/day) and the number of dispensed prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants (prescriptions/1000).
resultsThe use of antibiotics increased over the study period in Australia by 1.8% and decreased in Sweden by 26.3%. Use was consistently higher in Australia, double that of Sweden in 2018. Penicillin with extended spectrum was the most used class of antibiotics in Australia followed by penicillin with beta lactamase inhibitors. In Sweden, the most used class was beta lactamase-sensitive penicillin and the least used class was penicillin with beta lactamase inhibitors.
conclusionAntibiotic use in Australia is higher than in Sweden, with a higher proportion of broad-spectrum penicillin, including combinations with beta lactamase inhibitors, and cephalosporins. Factors that may contribute to these differences in antibiotic use include differences in guidelines, the duration of national antimicrobial stewardship programs, and differences in funding mechanisms.Key pointsAustralia has had a consistently higher dispensed use of antibiotics compared to Sweden from 2006 to 2018; and up to twice the use in 2018•A higher proportion of dispensed antibiotics in Australia were broad-spectrum penicillin, including combinations with beta lactamase inhibitors, and cefalosporins.•The most commonly used class of antibiotics in Australia is penicillin with extended spectrum, compared to beta lactamase sensitive penicillin in Sweden.•Use of macrolides, sulphonamides and trimethoprim, cephalosporins, penicillin with beta lactamase inhibitors and penicillin with extended spectrum was consistently higher in Australia, whereas in Sweden use of fluoroquinolones, lincosamides, beta lactamase-resistant penicillin and beta lactamase sensitive penicillin was higher.•The observed differences could be explained by antibiotic choice recommended in guidelines, prevalence of point-of-care testing, models of primary care funding, the presence and duration of national antimicrobial stewardship programmes, and cultural differences.
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