Age- and gender-specific antibacterial prescribing in Norway

Abstract

Over 1 year, a quarter of the total population used antibacterials. Patterns of use and types of drugs used differed markedly between genders and between different age groups.

Differences in outpatient antibiotic prescription in Italy’s Lombardy region

“…The elderly represented 19% of the 2005 Lombardy region population, but covered 36% of the prevalence-time AUC and the pediatric population covered 22% of the AUC, even if it represented 16% of the population. This profile is consistent with the epidemiology of infections, more common in childhood and in old age, and is quite similar to the trend observed in other countries [35,36]. However, it is interesting to note that, while in other countries the prevalence of antibiotic prescriptions remained higher in females than in males and also in the elderly, in the Lombardy region, in the elderly population, a greater prevalence was found in males than in females [35,36].…”

“…An age-dependent increase in the prevalence of quinolones was found also in Norway; however, in this country, quinolones were much less often prescribed than other antibiotic classes, even among the elderly [35].…”

Use of Antibiotics in Children

“…This is in accordance with other, albeit incomplete, Danish data from 1999 to 2006. 11,21 The prescribing rate is comparable to recent population-based german and norwegian data, 22,23 and somewhat lower than previous data from Sweden. 24 However, a recent study from the netherlands found markedly lower prescribing rates of about 250/1000 in children younger than 5.…”

Human Gut Microbiota and Obesity During Development

“…However, even in countries in which the prescribing patern usually adheres to national guidelines with respect to the choice of antibiotics, antibiotics are still largely prescribed to children, particularly to very young children [97][98][99][100].…”