Antibiotic prescribing practice in management of cough and/or diarrhoea in Moshi Municipality, Northern Tanzania: cross-sectional descriptive study

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Abstract

Introduction

The increase in resistance of many pathogens to currently available antibiotics has been recognized as life-threatening problem. The development of drug resistance is promoted by irrational prescribing behavior. Inappropriate use of antibiotics is attributed by over-prescription, inadequate dosage and use for non-bacterial infections. The purpose of this study was to assess antibiotic prescribing practices in the management of diarrhoea and cough among children attending hospitals in Moshi municipal, Tanzania.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive hospital based study, from September 2010 to March 2011. All children presenting with diarrhoea and cough, aged between one month and 5years attended at the two hospitals were enrolled. Data were collected by a standard questionnaire. Information on the prescribed drugs was obtained from patient files.

Results

A total of 384 children were enrolled. Of these, 326 (84.9%) received antibiotics; common prescribed antibiotics were penicillins, sulphonamides, aminoglycosides and macrolides. Eighty percent of children with acute watery diarrhoea and 68.9% with common cold were given antibiotics inappropriately. Inappropriate antibiotic prescription was significantly associated with prescriber being a clinical officer and assistant medical officer, and child having diarrhoea. Inappropriate antibiotic dosage was significantly occurred when prescriber was clinical officer with reference to medical officer.

Conclusion

This study observed a high antibiotic prescription rate by clinicians and treatment guidelines for management of patients who presented with cough and/or diarrhoea are followed. Continuing professional development programmes for clinicians on prescription would help in reducing irrational prescribing practices.

Most cited references 20

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Antibiotic prescribing for adults with colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis by ambulatory care physicians.

R. Gonzales, J. F. Steiner, M. A. Sande (1997)

Antibiotic use is associated with increased rates of antibiotic-resistant organisms. A previous study has shown that colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis account for nearly one third of all antibiotic prescribing by ambulatory care physicians. How frequently antibiotics are prescribed for these conditions and for and by whom is not known. To measure antibiotic prescription rates and to identify predictors of antibiotic use for adults diagnosed as having colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis in the United States. Sample survey of practicing physicians participating in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 1992. Office-based physician practices. Physicians (n=1529) completing patient record forms for adult office visits (n=28787). Antibiotic prescriptions for colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis. Office visits for colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis resulted in approximately 12 million antibiotic prescriptions, accounting for 21% of all antibiotic prescriptions to adults in 1992. A total of 51 % of patients diagnosed as having colds, 52% of patients diagnosed as having upper respiratory tract infections, and 66% of patients diagnosed as having bronchitis were treated with antibiotics. Female sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-2.62) and rural practice location (OR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.33-3.80) were associated with greater antibiotic prescription rates, whereas black race (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.21-0.93) was associated with lower antibiotic prescription rates. Patient age, Hispanic ethnicity, geographic region, physician specialty, and payment sources were not associated with antibiotic prescription rates in the bivariate analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified only rural practice location (adjusted OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.39-4.76) to be independently associated with more frequent antibiotic prescriptions for colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis. Although antibiotics have little or no benefit for colds, upper respiratory tract infections, or bronchitis, these conditions account for a sizable proportion of total antibiotic prescriptions for adults by office-based physicians in the United States. Overuse of antibiotics is widespread across geographical areas, medical specialties, and payment sources. Therefore, effective strategies for changing prescribing behavior for these conditions will need to be broad based.

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Intervention research in rational use of drugs: a review.

A le Grand, H. Hogerzeil, F Haaijer-Ruskamp (1999)

Many studies have been done to document drug use patterns, and indicate that overprescribing, multi-drug prescribing, misuse of drugs, use of unnecessary expensive drugs and overuse of antibiotics and injections are the most common problems of irrational drug use by prescribers as well as consumers. Improving drug use would have important financial and public health benefits. Many efforts have been undertaken to improve drug use, but few evaluations have been done in this field. This article provides an overview of 50 intervention studies to improve drug use in developing countries. It highlights what type of interventions exist and what is known about their impact. It reveals that commonly used interventions, such as an essential drug list and standard treatment guidelines, have rarely been systematically evaluated so far. The majority of intervention studies are focused on prescribers in a public health setting, while irrational use of drugs is also widespread in the private sector. Furthermore, the magnitude of inappropriate drug use at community level is often overlooked and few interventions address drug use from a consumer's perspective. More research on different types of intervention strategies in various health care settings is needed to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of a specific intervention strategy. Also more research is needed on socio-cultural factors influencing the impact of drug use interventions, particularly from a user perspective. To enhance evaluative research, more technical support will be needed for researchers in developing countries. The design of available studies from developing countries is generally weak, only six of the 50 studies included in this overview were randomized controlled studies. In order to provide technical support and coordination of future intervention research the establishment of an international resource centre for drug use intervention research is recommended.

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Antibiotic medication and bacterial resistance to antibiotics: a survey of children in a Vietnamese community.

M. Larsson, G Kronvall, N. T. K. CHUC … (2000)

To investigate antibiotic use and antibiotic susceptibility of respiratory tract pathogens in children aged 1-5 years in Bavi, Vietnam. Nasopharynx and throat specimens were collected from 200 children from randomly selected households in a demographically defined population. Respiratory isolates were tested for antibiotic susceptibility according to the standard disk diffusion method. A questionnaire survey of carers elicited information on type of antibiotic used, duration of treatment, where the antibiotics had been purchased, type of treatment information retained by carers and episodes of illness preceding the study. 82% of the children had at least one symptom of acute respiratory tract infection (ARI) in the 4 weeks prior to the study, and of these 91% were treated with antibiotics. The most commonly used antibiotics were ampicillin (74%), penicillin (12%), amoxicillin (11%), erythromycin (5%), tetracycline (4%) and streptomycin (2%). Ampicillin was used for 3.3 days on average (SD:1.8) and penicillin for 2.6 days (SD:0.7). When deciding which antibiotic to use, 67% of the carers consulted the pharmacy seller, 11% decided themselves and 22% followed the doctor's prescription. The carrier rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis was 50%, 39% and 17%, respectively. Isolates from 145 children were susceptibility tested, and 74% were found to carry resistant pathogens. Of the tested isolates, 90% of S. pneumoniae, 68% of H. influenzae and 74% of M. catarrhalis were resistant to at least one antibiotic. The mean number of antibiotics (susceptible strains excluded) to which resistance was found was 2.0 (SD:1.2), 2.5 (SD:1.8) and 2.1 (SD:0.9), respectively. S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae showed high resistance to tetracycline (88% and 32%, respectively), trimethoprim/sulphonamide (32% and 44%), and chloramphenicol (25% and 24%). 23% of S. pneumoniae were erythromycin-resistant and 18% of H. influenzae isolates were resistant to ampicillin. There was a significant difference in ampicillin and penicillin resistance between the group of children previously treated with beta lactam antibiotics and the group of children who did not receive antibiotics. As reported by the carers, children in Bavi are treated with antibiotics frequently. Most antibiotics were obtained without consulting a doctor. High levels of antibiotic resistance and high prevalence of multidrug-resistant strains were found among respiratory pathogens. The existence of a large reservoir of resistance genes among children in low-income countries represents a threat to the success of antibiotic therapy throughout the world. Multi-faceted programmes to improve rational use of antibiotics in Vietnam are urgently needed.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Pan Afr Med J

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Pan Afr Med J

Journal ID (publisher-id): PAMJ

Title: The Pan African Medical Journal

Publisher: The African Field Epidemiology Network

ISSN (Electronic): 1937-8688

Publication date (Electronic): 13 August 2012

Publication date Collection: 2012

Volume: 12

Electronic Location Identifier: 103

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Paediatric and Child Health, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, P. O. Box 2240, Moshi, Tanzania

[2 ]Ifakara Health Institute, P.O.Box 74, Bagamoyo, Coastal Region, Tanzania

[3 ]Department of Community Medicine,Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, P. O. Box 2240, Moshi, Tanzania

[4 ]Department of Pharmacology, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), P. O. Box 3010, Moshi, Tanzania

Author notes

[& ]Corresponding author: Judith John Gwimile, Department of Paediatric and Child Health, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, P. O. Box 2240, Moshi, Tanzania

Article

Publisher ID: PAMJ-12-103

PMC ID: 3489386

PubMed ID: 23133703

SO-VID: e93b5780-c771-452f-add5-083a245913d4

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The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Antibiotic prescribing practice in management of cough and/or diarrhoea in Moshi Municipality, Northern Tanzania: cross-sectional descriptive study

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Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Most cited references 20

Antibiotic prescribing for adults with colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and bronchitis by ambulatory care physicians.

Intervention research in rational use of drugs: a review.

Antibiotic medication and bacterial resistance to antibiotics: a survey of children in a Vietnamese community.

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