Testing Different Message Styles about Unnecessary Antibiotics Using an Online Platform.

Patients' expectations are a major contributor to the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics, yet limited research has examined how physicians can calibrate these expectations. The studies we conducted tested how varying messages could impact patients' expectations for antibiotics and their experience of medical appointments. All the participants read a short scenario about an appointment for mild sinusitis symptoms, with the patient's expectation of antibiotics. In Study 1, the participants (n = 1069) were randomly assigned to read a positively framed, neutral, or negatively framed message regarding unnecessary antibiotics. In Study 2, the participants (n = 1073) read a message emphasizing either the societal or personal harms of unnecessary antibiotics, or a message without additional rationale. None of our pre-registered hypotheses were supported, but our exploratory analyses indicated that the societal message increased concern about antibiotic resistance. The participants who were more concerned about resistance were less likely to ask for antibiotics, more satisfied when the physician did not prescribe them, and more likely to recommend the physician to a friend. Discussing the consequences of the different courses of action did not appear to negatively impact physician-patient rapport. These studies demonstrate an inexpensive method with which to pre-test various messages about antibiotic consumption, and suggest that such messages are not negatively received by patients.

Investigating the effect of early life antibiotic use on asthma and allergy risk in over 600 000 Canadian children: a protocol for a retrospective cohort study in British Columbia and Manitoba.

INTRODUCTION: Allergic conditions, such as asthma, hay fever and eczema, are some of the most common conditions impacting children globally. There is a strong incentive to study their determinants to improve their prevention. Asthma, hay fever and eczema are influenced through the same immunological pathway and often copresent in children ('the atopic march'). Increasing evidence shows a link between infant antibiotic use and the risk of childhood atopic conditions, mediated through gut microbial dysbiosis during immune system maturation, however, the potential for confounding remains. This study will investigate the relationship between infant antibiotic use and risk of allergic conditions in British Columbian and Manitoban children born over 10 years, adjusting for relevant confounders. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Provincial administrative datasets will be linked to perform comparable retrospective cohort analyses, using Population Data BC and the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository. All infants born between 2001 and 2011 in BC and Manitoba will be included (approximately 460 000 and 162 500 infants, respectively), following up to age 7. Multivariable logistic regression will determine the outcome risk by the fifth birthday among children who did and did not receive antibiotics before their first birthday. Clinical, demographic and environmental covariates will be explored, and sensitivity analyses performed to reduce confounding by indication. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The University of British Columbia Research Ethics Board (H19-03255) and University of Manitoba Ethics Board (HS25156 (H2021:328)) have approved this study. Data stewardship committees for all administrative datasets have granted permissions, facilitated by Population Data BC and the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. Permissions from the Canadian Health Infant Longitudinal Development Study are being sought for breastfeeding data (CP185). Findings will be published in scientific journals and presented at infectious disease and respiratory health conferences. A stakeholder committee will guide and enhance sensitive and impactful communication of the findings to new parents.

Community Antibiotic Use at the Population Level During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in British Columbia, Canada.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to examine the aggregate rates of antibiotic use at the population level and compare these rates over time against historical averages to identify the effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the resulting control measures on community prescribing. METHODS: We collected antibiotic prescriptions and physician office visits from January 1, 2016, to July 21, 2020. We calculated monthly prescription rates stratified by sex, age group, profession, diagnosis type, and antibiotic class. We looked at monthly prescription rate as a moving average over time. Using the interrupted time series analysis method, we estimated the changes in prescription rates after March 2020. RESULTS: The moving average of overall monthly prescription rates during January-June 2020 was below the minimum of the historical years' moving averages (2016-2019). We observed a >30% reduction in overall monthly prescription rates in April, May, and July of 2020 compared with the same months of 2019. We observed that overall monthly prescription rates experienced a significant level change of -12.79 (P < .001) during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic after March 2020, with the greatest level change being -18.02 among children 1-4 years of age (P < .001). We estimated an average -5.94 (P < .001) change in respiratory tract infection (RTI)-associated monthly prescription rates after March 2020. Overall prescription rates comparing January-July 2019 and their 2020 counterparts showed a decrease in monthly prescribing ranging from -1 to -5 for amoxicillin, amoxicillin and enzyme inhibitors, azithromycin, clarithromycin, and sulfamethoxazole. CONCLUSIONS: In British Columbia, Canada, overall and RTI-specific monthly antibiotic prescription rates declined significantly during April-July 2020 compared with the same months in prepandemic years.

Antibiotic management of urinary tract infection in elderly patients in primary care and its association with bloodstream infections and all cause mortality: population based cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between antibiotic treatment for urinary tract infection (UTI) and severe adverse outcomes in elderly patients in primary care. DESIGN: Retrospective population based cohort study. SETTING: Clinical Practice Research Datalink (2007-15) primary care records linked to hospital episode statistics and death records in England. PARTICIPANTS: 157 264 adults aged 65 years or older presenting to a general practitioner with at least one diagnosis of suspected or confirmed lower UTI from November 2007 to May 2015. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Bloodstream infection, hospital admission, and all cause mortality within 60 days after the index UTI diagnosis. RESULTS: Among 312 896 UTI episodes (157 264 unique patients), 7.2% (n=22 534) did not have a record of antibiotics being prescribed and 6.2% (n=19 292) showed a delay in antibiotic prescribing. 1539 episodes of bloodstream infection (0.5%) were recorded within 60 days after the initial UTI. The rate of bloodstream infection was significantly higher among those patients not prescribed an antibiotic (2.9%; n=647) and those recorded as revisiting the general practitioner within seven days of the initial consultation for an antibiotic prescription compared with those given a prescription for an antibiotic at the initial consultation (2.2% v 0.2%; P=0.001). After adjustment for covariates, patients were significantly more likely to experience a bloodstream infection in the deferred antibiotics group (adjusted odds ratio 7.12, 95% confidence interval 6.22 to 8.14) and no antibiotics group (8.08, 7.12 to 9.16) compared with the immediate antibiotics group. The number needed to harm (NNH) for occurrence of bloodstream infection was lower (greater risk) for the no antibiotics group (NNH=37) than for the deferred antibiotics group (NNH=51) compared with the immediate antibiotics group. The rate of hospital admissions was about double among cases with no antibiotics (27.0%) and deferred antibiotics (26.8%) compared with those prescribed immediate antibiotics (14.8%; P=0.001). The risk of all cause mortality was significantly higher with deferred antibiotics and no antibiotics than with immediate antibiotics at any time during the 60 days follow-up (adjusted hazard ratio 1.16, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 1.27 and 2.18, 2.04 to 2.33, respectively). Men older than 85 years were particularly at risk for both bloodstream infection and 60 day all cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: In elderly patients with a diagnosis of UTI in primary care, no antibiotics and deferred antibiotics were associated with a significant increase in bloodstream infection and all cause mortality compared with immediate antibiotics. In the context of an increase of Escherichia coli bloodstream infections in England, early initiation of recommended first line antibiotics for UTI in the older population is advocated.

Exploring the relationship between primary care antibiotic prescribing for urinary tract infections, Escherichia coli bacteraemia incidence and antimicrobial resistance: an ecological study.

This study quantified the association between antibiotic prescribing for urinary tract infections (UTIs) and the incidence/antimicrobial susceptibility of UTI-related Escherichia coli bacteraemia in adult women in England. A national ecological study was conducted with data aggregated at GP practice level. The study population was adult female patients (>18 years) with reported UTI-related E. coli bacteraemia in England (2012-2014). Reports of bacteraemia from the national mandatory surveillance scheme were linked with E. coli blood culture susceptibility data (where available) and the correlation with primary care exposure to trimethoprim and nitrofurantoin was quantified using longitudinal multilevel models. The study included 19 874 patients from 5916 practices. The overall incidence of UTI-related E. coli bacteraemia in the study group did not change significantly (1.3% increase, 95% CI 0.1-2.7%; P = 0.074). However, after adjusting for practice characteristics, UTI-related E. coli bacteraemia incidence increased by 3.0% (P < 0.001) and 1.5% (P < 0.01) with each increasing quintile in trimethoprim and nitrofurantoin prescribing, respectively. The incidence of trimethoprim-resistant bacteraemia increased by 4.5% (P = 0.032) with each increasing quintile in trimethoprim prescribing and was not associated with nitrofurantoin prescribing. This study demonstrated an association between GP prescribing for UTIs and UTI-related E. coli bacteraemia incidence at the practice level and showed that higher prescribing of trimethoprim is associated with higher incidence of trimethoprim-resistant bacteraemia. Evidence is provided of the importance of prudent antibiotic prescribing in primary care to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance, placing patients at risk of subsequent severe infections.

Bed utilisation and increased risk of Clostridium difficile infections in acute hospitals in England in 2013/2014.

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to identify thresholds for hospital bed utilisation which are independently associated with significantly higher risks for Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in acute hospitals in England. METHOD: A retrospective analysis was carried out on reported data from the English National Health Service (NHS) for the financial year 2013/2014. Reported rates of CDI were used as a proxy for hospital infection rates in acute NHS hospital trusts. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the relationship between bed utilisation values and CDI controlling for confounding factors. Hospitals were finally plotted in a Pabon Lasso graph according to their average bed occupancy rate (BOR) and bed turnover rate (BTR) per year to visualise the relationship between bed utilisation and CDI. RESULTS: Among English hospital NHS trusts, increasing BTR and decreasing BOR were associated with a decrease in CDI. However, this effect was not large, and patient mix had a larger impact on CDI rates than bed utilisation. CONCLUSIONS: While policymakers and managers wishing to target healthcare providers with high CDI rates should look at bed utilisation measures, focusing on these alone is unlikely to have the desired impact. Instead, strategies to combat CDI must take a wider perspective on contributory factors at the institutional level.

Investigating the burden of antibiotic resistance in ethnic minority groups in high-income countries: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is an urgent problem globally, with overuse and misuse of antibiotics being one of the main drivers of antibiotic-resistant infections. There is increasing evidence that the burden of community-acquired infections such as urinary tract infections and bloodstream infections (both susceptible and resistant) may differ by ethnicity, although the reasons behind this relationship are not well defined. It has been demonstrated that socioeconomic status and ethnicity are often highly correlated with each other; however, it is not yet known whether accounting for deprivation completely explains any discrepancy seen in infection risk. There have currently been no systematic reviews summarising the evidence for the relationship between ethnicity and antibiotic resistance or prescribing. METHODS: This protocol will outline how we will conduct this systematic literature review and meta-analysis investigating whether there is an association between patient ethnicity and (1) risk of antibiotic-resistant infections or (2) levels of antibiotic prescribing in high-income countries. We will search PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Scopus and CINAHL using MESH terms where applicable. Two reviewers will conduct title/abstract screening, data extraction and quality assessment independently. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist will be used for cohort and case-control studies, and the Cochrane collaboration's risk of bias tool will be used for randomised control trials, if they are included. Meta-analyses will be performed by calculating the minority ethnic group to majority ethnic group odds ratios or risk ratios for each study and presenting an overall pooled odds ratio for the two outcomes. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessments, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach will be used to assess the overall quality of the body of evidence. DISCUSSION: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we will aim to collate the available evidence of whether there is a difference in rates of AMR and/or antibiotic prescribing in minority vs. majority ethnic groups in high-income countries. Additionally, this review will highlight areas where more research needs to be conducted and may provide insight into what may cause differences in this relationship, should they be seen. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO ( CRD42016051533 ).