Association between ivy leaves dry extract EA 575 prescriptions and antibiotic use, sick leave duration, and repeated infections in adult patients

Figures & data

Figure 1. Selection of study patients.

Table 1. Basic characteristics of study patients

Variable	Patients with EA 575 prescription	Patients with antibiotic prescription	p-Value
N	7034	7034
Age (mean, SD)	51.0 (19.2)	51.0 (19.3)	0.805
18–40 years, N (%)	2323 (33.0)	2304 (32.8)	0.893
41–60 years, N (%)	2457 (34.9)	2483 (36.3)
>60 years, N (%)	2254 (32.1)	2247 (31.9)
Sex: female, N (%)	3841 (54.6)	3833 (54.5)	0.892
Health insurance coverage, N (%)	603 (8.6)	604 (8.6)	0.976
CCI (mean, SD)	1.4 (1.7)	1.4 (1.7)	0.770
Acute upper respiratory infections of multiple and unspecified sites (J06), N (%)	2920 (41.5)	2920 (41.5)	1.000
Acute bronchitis (J20), N (%)	1317 (18.7)	1314 (18.7)	0.948
Bronchitis, not specified as acute or chronic (J40), N (%)	840 (12.0)	843 (12.0)	0.938
Other diagnoses including acute nasopharyngitis cough and viral infection of unspecified site, N (%)	1957 (27.8)	1957 (27.8)	1.000

Table 2. Association between EA 575 prescription and probability of antibiotic prescription in the period 4–30 days and 31–365 after the index date [EA 575 versus antibiotic]

	Antibiotic prescription in the period 4–30 days after the index date				Antibiotic prescription in the period 31–365 days after the index date
Patient group	New antibiotic prescription in patients treated with EA 575 (%)	New antibiotic prescription in patients treated with antibiotics (%)	Odds ratio (95% CI)	p-Value	New antibiotic prescription in patients treated with EA 575 (%)	New antibiotic prescription in patients treated with antibiotics (%)	Odds ratio (95% CI)	p-Value
Total	360 (5.1)	430 (6.1)	0.83 (0.72–0.96)	0.011	1057 (15.0)	2025 (28.8)	0.44 (0.40–0.48)	<0.001
Women	209 (5.4)	234 (6.1)	0.89 (0.73–1.07)	0.213	622 (16.2)	1164 (30.4)	0.44 (0.40–0.50)	<0.001
Men	151 (4.7)	196 (6.1)	0.76 (0.61–0.95)	0.014	435 (13.6)	861 (26.9)	0.43 (0.38–0.49)	<0.001
18–40 years	87 (3.8)	95 (4.1)	0.91 (0.67–1.22)	0.508	327 (14.1)	669 (29.0)	0.40 (0.35–0.46)	<0.001
41–60 years	127 (5.2)	145 (5.8)	0.88 (0.69–1.12)	0.302	352 (14.3)	718 (28.9)	0.41 (0.37–0.46)	<0.001
>60 years	6.5	8.5	0.75 (0.60–0.94)	0.012	16.8	28.4	0.51 (0.44–0.59)	<0.001

Table 3. Association between EA 575 prescription and sick leave duration in days [EA 575 versus antibiotic]

Patient group	Average duration in patients treated with EA 575 (mean, SD)	Average duration in patients treated with antibiotics (mean, SD)	Difference in days (95% CI)	p-Value
All patients aged 18–65
Total	5.0 (5.7)	4.1 (6.4)	0.90 (0.65–1.15)	<0.001
Women	4.6 (6.5)	3.9 (6.4)	0.76 (0.42–1.10)	<0.001
Men	5.4 (6.8)	4.3 (6.4)	1.06 (0.69–1.42)	<0.001
Age ≤40	4.7 (6.1)	4.0 (5.9)	0.69 (0.34–1.03)	<0.001
Age 41–60	5.5 (7.1)	4.3 (6.7)	1.20 (0.81–1.58)	<0.001
Age >60	3.9 (6.5)	3.4 (6.8)	0.50 (−0.29–1.30)	0.217
Patients aged 18–65 with at least 1 day of sick leave
Total	7.8 (6.9)	8.1 (6.9)	−0.30 (−0.66–0.04)	0.086
Women	7.8 (6.8)	8.3 (7.1)	−0.48 (−0.99–0.02)	0.061
Men	7.8 (6.9)	7.9 (6.8)	−0.14 (−0.62–0.34)	0.569
Age ≤40	6.8 (6.3)	7.0 (6.4)	−0.20 (−0.66–0.27)	0.405
Age 41–60	8.6 (7.2)	8.9 (7.1)	−0.34 (−0.88–0.19)	0.207
Age >60	9.1 (7.3)	10.5 (8.4)	−1.43 (−2.96–0.08)	0.064

Figure 2. Cumulative incidence of new cough diagnoses stratified by index therapy (EA 575 versus antibiotic).

Table 4. Association between EA 575 prescription for new virus infections (cough diagnoses) in the time period 8–365 days after the index date [EA 575 versus antibiotic]

Patient group	Proportion of patients with new virus infection among patients treated with EA 575 (N, %)	Proportion of patients with new virus infection among patients treated with antibiotics (N, %)	Odds ratio (95% CI)	p-Value
Total	2055 (29.2)	2189 (31.1)	0.91 (0.85–0.98)	0.014
Women	1116 (32.0)	1249 (36.0)	0.85 (0.77–0.93)	<0.001
Men	939 (32.5)	940 (32.8)	1.00 (0.90–1.12)	0.970
Age ≤40	758 (38.4)	791 (40.6)	0.93 (0.82–1.05)	0.220
Age 41–60	750 (33.4)	783 (34.5)	0.95 (0.85–1.08)	0.443
Age >60	547 (25.4)	615 (28.9)	0.85 (0.74–0.97)	0.018