Year: 2012
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Antibiotics are commonly prescribed drugs in childhood. The aim of this study, was to determine the frequency of antibiotic use and indications during the first year of life, and to determine which factors contribute to the use of antibiotics in children who followed “Well Child Clinic”.The study was carried out in 148 children, who regularly attended the “Well Child Clinic”. Files of the children were reviewed retrospectively. Medical history, physical examination and the results of “complete blood counts” were recorded. The past history of children for infection and antibiotic use were determined. SPSS for Windows 13.00 program was used for statistical analysis. p<0.05 was defined as statistical significance.Eighty one (55%) children were girls and 67 (45%) were boys. Antibiotics were used in 45.3% of children. The most common indication for antibiotic use was upper respiratory tract infection (41/67, 61.19%), tonsillitis (20/67, 29.85%), and otitis media (11/67, 16.4%). Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (43/67, 64.17%), ampicillin/sulbactam (15/67, 22.3%), and cefuroxime axetile (9/67, 13.4%) were the most commonly used antibiotics for children. No statistically significant relation was detected between antibiotic use and feeding regimen. However, antibiotic usage was higher in children with anemia (p=0.027).Nearly ½ of the children used antibiotics, and anemic children were susceptible to the infections. These data highlights that importance of diagnosis, prevention of anemia, and iron therapy. Furthermore, this results emphasizes that, the importance of education in health care providers for the prevention of inappropriate and excessive use of antibiotics.
Source: DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Authors: Nilgün Çöl Araz, Neriman Aydın
Language: Turkish
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1484679718