An Evaluation Of Antibiotics Prescribing Patterns In The Emergency Department Of A Tertiary Care Hospital In Saudi Arabia

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics Of Patients Who Received Antibiotics

Characteristics		n	%
Females		3257	51.3
Children (<18 years)		2335	36.7
Diagnosis	Upper RTI	2020	31.8
	UTI	1432	22.5
	OM	651	10.2
	Lower RTI	1161	18.3
	Skin infection	396	6.3
	Others	694	10.9
Culture available	Yes	1183	18.6
Culture results	Negative	856	72.1
	Positive	332	27.9
If culture available, type of culture	Blood	251	21.1
	Urine	608	51.2
	Throat	134	11.3
	Others	195	16.4
Number of visits to ED	One	3532	55.6
	Two	1462	23.0
	Three or more	1360	21.4
Antibiotic category	Cephalosporin	1924	30.3
	Macrolide	1327	20.9
	Penicillin	2259	35.5
	Quinolone	646	10.2
	Others	198	3.1
Antibiotic spectrum	Broad	4894	77.0
	Narrow	1460	23.0
Antibiotic courses	One course	4941	88.5
	Two courses	541	9.7
	Three courses or more	100	1.8
Cost (US$) (range 0.82–139.2), mean ± SD		17.8±11.6

Abbreviations: ED, emergency department; RTI, respiratory tract infection; UTI, urinary tract infection; SD, standard division; OM, otitis media.

Table 2 Association Between Age Groups And Other Sample Characteristics

		Children 2335 (36.7%)		Adults 4019 (63.3%)		P-value
		n	%	n	%
Sex	Male	1328	56.9	1769	44.0	0.001*
	Female	1007	43.1	2250	56.0
Diagnosis	Upper RTI	1001	42.9	1019	25.4	0.001*
	UTI	268	11.5	1164	29.0
	OM	432	18.5	219	5.4
	Lower RTI	423	18.1	738	18.4
	Skin infection	101	4.3	295	7.3
	Others	110	4.7	584	14.5
Visit	One	1222	52.4	2310	57.5	0.001*
	Two	575	24.6	887	22.1
	Three or more	538	23.0	822	20.4
Type of culture	Blood	138	27.5	113	16.5	0.001*
	Urine	162	32.3	446	65.0
	Throat	117	23.3	17	2.5
	Others	85	16.9	110	16.0
Culture results	Negative	377	75.1	479	69.8	0.045*
	Positive	125	24.9	207	30.2
Spectrum of antibiotic	Broad	1727	74.0	3167	78.8	0.001*
	Narrow	608	26.0	852	21.2
Antibiotic category	Cephalosporin	779	33.3	1145	28.5	0.001*
	Macrolide	432	18.6	895	22.3
	Penicillin	1081	46.4	1178	29.3
	Quinolone	15	0.5	631	15.7
	Others	28	1.2	170	4.2
Antibiotic courses	One	1918	90.7	3029	87.3	0.001*
	Two	176	8.3	362	10.4
	Three or more	21	1.0	79	2.3
Cost (US$), mean ± SD		19.9±12.5		14.1±8.7		0.001^#

Notes: *Pearson Chi-squared test significant at α = 0.05. ^#Mann–Whitney U-test significant at α = 0.05.

Abbreviations: RTI, respiratory tract infection; UTI, urinary tract infection; SD, standard division; OM, otitis media.

Figure 1 The most frequently prescribed antibiotics by age group.

Figure 2 The most frequently prescribed classes of antibiotics by disease.

Table 3 WHO/INRUD Prescribing Indicators At EDs

Indicator	Value (SD)	Standard Value
Average number of drugs per encounter (n=45,770)	1.26	1.6–1.8
Percentage of encounters with a prescribed antibiotic (n=6354)	17.6 (0.4)	20.0–26.8%
Percentage of encounters with an injection antibiotics (n=5470)	15.2 (0.4)	13.4–24.1%
Percentage of antibiotic prescribed by generic name (n=4881)	77 (1.1)	100%
Percentage of antibiotic prescribed from the essential list^a (n=6354)	100	100%

Note: ^aAccess and Watch classified antibiotics.

Abbreviations: WHO, World Health Organization; INURD, International Network of Rational Use of Drugs.