Antibiotic prescribing trends in patients with upper respiratory tract infections reporting to tertiary care hospitals of Lahore

Abstract

To estimate the antibiotic utilization and treatment compliance in URTIs reported to tertiary care hospitals of Lahore. A cross-sectional study was conducted by including 423 prescription files from public and private hospitals of Lahore. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate percentage frequencies. The reporting frequency of URTIs, tonsillitis, pharyngitis and otitis media, was higher in public hospitals (JH; 27.4%, LGH; 25.8%) compared to private (NHMC;16.3%, DHMC;15.1%) hospitals in patients aged 21–40 years. Patients aged 18–40 years (59%) received most antibiotics. Broad spectrum antibiotics (95%) were prescribed in both public (JH; 27.4%, LGH;25.9%) and private hospitals (NHMC;16.3%, DHMC;14.8%) - co-amoxiclave (30%) in penicillin class, ceftriaxone (15.4%) and cefixime (11.6%) in cephalosporin class, levofloxacin (11.3%) in quinolone class and clarithromycin (10.4%) in macrolide class, in tonsillitis, pharyngitis and otitis media. The diagnosis that received most antibiotics included tonsillitis (30%), pharyngitis (29.1%) and otitis media (11.1%). Superior treatment compliance was observed in public hospitals compared to private hospitals. The highest treatment non-compliance was observed in laryngitis (36.4%), otitis media (34%) and pharyngitis (26%). 1st line and over all treatment compliance was superior in public hospitals - sore throat, tonsillitis, sinusitis, otitis media and pharyngitis received the most appropriate choices.