Health Policy Manag.  2015 Dec;25(4):256-263. 10.4332/KJHPA.2015.25.4.256.

Analysis of Factors Related to the Prescription of Antibiotics for the Acute Upper Respiratory Infection

Affiliations
  • 1Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
  • 2Department of Nursing, Daegu Health College, Daegu, Korea.
  • 3Graduate School of Public Health and Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. wchung@yuhs.ac
  • 4College of Pharmacy, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea.
  • 5Health Insurance Policy Research Institute, National Health Insurance Service, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Initial treatment of acute upper respiratory infection (AURI) should not include antibiotics because most AURIs are caused by virus. However, the prescription rate of antibiotics in Korea is higher than in any other countries. Inappropriate use of antibiotics in Korea accelerated the emergence of antibiotics resistance and increased the social and economic burden. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors related to antibiotics use for the AURI among children-adolescents and adults.
METHODS
This study analyzed the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Patient Sample data which was nationally representative sampling stratified by sex and age.
RESULTS
The influencing factors of antibiotics use for AURI are gender, age, types of medical security, primary disease, existence of concomitant disease, treatment seasons, first visit or revisit, indicated specialty, types of medical institution, and location of medical institution.
CONCLUSION
The results showed health policy makers are required to place more efforts to resolve inappropriate antibiotics use. Especially they need to establish a health policy to reduce the gap between areas and specialties and recommend standardized clinical guidelines according to the subgroup code of AURI and the age group of patients.

Keyword

Acute upper respiratory infection; Anti-bacterial agents; Prescriptions

MeSH Terms

Adult
Anti-Bacterial Agents*
Health Policy
Humans
Insurance, Health
Korea
Prescriptions*
Seasons
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Full Text Links
  • HPM
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr