Antibiotics for Respiratory Tract Infections: A Comparison of Prescribing in an Outpatient Setting

Objective To examine inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in ambulatory care to help target antimicrobial stewardship interventions. Design and Setting Retrospective analysis of RTI visits within general internal medicine (GIM) and family medicine (FM) ambulatory practices at an inner-city academic medical center from 2008 to 2010. Methods Patient, physician, and practice characteristics were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression to determine factors predictive of inappropriate prescribing; physicians in the highest and lowest antibiotic-prescribing quartiles were compared using (2) analysis. Results Visits with FM providers, female gender, and self-reported race/ethnicity as white or Hispanic were significantly associated with inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Physicians in the lowest quartile prescribed antibiotics for 5%-28% (mean, 21%) of RTI visits; physicians in the highest quartile prescribed antibiotics for 54%-85% (mean, 65%) of RTI visits. High prescribers had fewer African-American patients and more patients who were younger and privately insured. High prescribers had more patients with chronic lung disease. A GIM practice pod with a low prescriber was 3.0 times more likely to have a second low prescriber than other practice pods, whereas pods with a high prescriber were 1.3 times more likely to have a second high prescriber. Conclusions Medical specialty was the only physician factor predictive of inappropriate prescribing when patient gender, race, and comorbidities were taken into account. Possible disparities in care need further study. Stewardship education in medical school, enlisting low prescribers as physician leaders, and targeting interventions to the highest prescribers might be more effective approaches to antimicrobial stewardship.