Antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections in Dutch primary care in relation to patient age and clinical entities

Abstract

Potential over-prescribing of antibiotics for RTIs occurs in the age group 31-65 years, not in children and the elderly, and in patients with upper RTIs, sinusitis and most likely acute bronchitis (contact-based). The management of these subgroups of patients should be addressed in quality assurance programmes. Children and the elderly visit the GP much more often than adults, which can be explained by more frequent (children) or more severe (elderly) RTI morbidity, but in proportion they do not receive more antibiotics.