Purpose Irrational prescription of antibiotics is an ongoing global public health concern, leading to antibiotic resistance. Understanding the prescribing pattern of antibiotics is important to tackling mal-prescription and antibiotic resistance. We aimed to investigate the pattern and factors affecting outpatients’ antibiotic prescribing by family physicians in Primary Health Care (PHC). Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in 19 PHC facilities in Alborz province. Prescribing pattern of antibiotics was evaluated among 1068 prescriptions by family physicians. Prescribing pattern of antibiotics included prescriptions containing antibiotics, the number of antibiotics per prescription, type, name of antibiotic, and mal-prescription. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results Overall, 57% of the prescriptions had ≥ 1 antibiotic and the average number of antibiotics per prescription was 1.27. Amoxicillin was the commonly prescribed antibiotic. There was a significant relationship between age, sex, type of health insurance, work experience of the physician, and seasons with antibiotic prescribing (P < 0.05). In 59.31% of antibiotic prescriptions at least one of the scientific criteria was not fulfilled. In the final analysis, after adjusting for the potential confounders, field experts of physicians (OR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.08–6.17), female sex (OR = 2.23; 95% CI: 1.18–4.21), and winter season (OR = 3.34; 95% CI: 1.26–8.15) were found associated factors with antibiotic prescribing. Conclusion The average number of antibiotics per prescription and the percentage of irrational prescriptions were relatively high in this study. There is need to improve antibiotic prescribing patterns among family physicians working in primary health care.

Background Mal-prescribing of antibiotics is a major and ongoing global public health problem both in developing and developed countries. Family physicians are the most important and dominant health services providers in Iran that pattern describing by them poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the pattern and factors affecting antibiotic prescribing by family physicians in primary health care (PHC).Methods In this descriptive-analytical study, 1068 prescriptions of family physicians in PHC were assessed among Alborz province health facilities. Prescriptions were selected by random sampling. The mal-prescribing was assessed based on 4 criteria including dose per consumption, dose per day, correct duration of therapy and possible interaction with other antibiotics. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for the association between antibiotic prescribing and affecting factors.Results The average number of antibiotics was reported 1.27 per prescription and almost 56.8% of them had at least an antibiotic. There was a statistically significant relationship between age, gender, type of insurance booklet, work experience of physicians, seasons of the year and receiving antibiotics (P<0.05). In 59.31% of antibiotic prescriptions at least one of the scientific criteria was not satisfied.Conclusion The number of prescribed antibiotics and the mal-prescribing percentage were high among family physicians. Strong political commitment and altering physicians' training curricula especially promoting a preventive approach and developing a registration system for identifying adverse drug reactions, antibiotic use patterns and mal-prescribing are imperative at the grass-root level.

Background: Mal-prescription of antibiotics is a major and ongoing global public health problem both in developing and developed countries. Family physicians are the most important and dominant health services providers in Iran their prescription pattern is poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the pattern and factors affecting antibiotic prescribing by family physicians in primary health care (PHC). Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 1068 prescriptions of family physicians in PHC were assessed in Alborz province health facilities. Prescriptions were selected by simple random sampling. The mal-prescribing was assessed based on four criteria including dose per consumption, dose per day, correct duration of therapy and possible interaction with other drugs. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for the association between antibiotic prescription and the affecting factors. Results: The average number of antibiotics was found 1.27 per prescription and 56.8% of the prescriptions had at least one antibiotic. There was a statistically significant relationship between age, gender, type of health insurance, work experience of physician, seasons of the year and receiving antibiotics (P<0.05). In 59.31% of antibiotic prescriptions at least one of the scientific criteria was not satisfied. Conclusion: The number of prescribed antibiotics and the mal-prescription percentage were high among family physicians. Strong political commitment and altering physicians' training curricula especially promoting a preventive approach and developing a registration system for identifying adverse drug reactions, antibiotic use patterns and control of mal-prescription are imperative at the grass-root level.