Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • LATEST ARTICLES
  • ALL ISSUES
  • AUTHORS & REVIEWERS
  • RESOURCES
    • About BJGP Open
    • Editorial Board
    • Editorial Fellowships
    • Outreach
    • Research into Publication Science
    • Advertising
    • BJGP Life
    • Feedback
    • Alerts
    • Conference
    • eLetters
    • Audio abstracts
  • RACE AND RACISM IN PRIMARY CARE
  • RCGP
    • British Journal of General Practice
    • BJGP for RCGP members
    • RCGP eLearning
    • InnovAIT Journal
    • Jobs and careers
    • RCGP e-Portfolio

User menu

  • Alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
BJGP Open
  • RCGP
    • British Journal of General Practice
    • BJGP for RCGP members
    • RCGP eLearning
    • InnovAIT Journal
    • Jobs and careers
    • RCGP e-Portfolio
  • Subscriptions
  • Alerts
  • Log in
  • Follow bjgp on Twitter
  • Visit bjgp on Facebook
  • Blog
Advertisement
BJGP Open

Advanced Search

  • HOME
  • LATEST ARTICLES
  • ALL ISSUES
  • AUTHORS & REVIEWERS
  • RESOURCES
    • About BJGP Open
    • Editorial Board
    • Editorial Fellowships
    • Outreach
    • Research into Publication Science
    • Advertising
    • BJGP Life
    • Feedback
    • Alerts
    • Conference
    • eLetters
    • Audio abstracts
  • RACE AND RACISM IN PRIMARY CARE
Research

Prescribing antibiotics when the stakes are higher — do GPs prescribe less when patients are pregnant? A retrospective observational study

Guro Haugen Fossum, Svein Gjelstad, Kari J Kværner and Morten Lindbaek
BJGP Open 2018; 2 (2): bjgpopen18X101505. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgpopen18X101505
Guro Haugen Fossum
1 PhD Student, Department of General Practice, Antibiotic Center for Primary Care, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, , Norway
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: g.h.fossum@medisin.uio.no
Svein Gjelstad
2 Associate Professor, Department of General Practice, Antibiotic Center for Primary Care, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, , Norway
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kari J Kværner
3 Professor, C3 Centre for Connected Care, Oslo University Hospital and BI Norwegian Business School, , Norway
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Morten Lindbaek
4 Professor, Department of General Practice, Antibiotic Center for Primary Care, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, , Norway
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Tables
  • Figure 1.
    • Download figure
    • Open in new tab
    • Download powerpoint
    Figure 1. Selection of GPs and patients from the Rx-PAD study database and the Norwegian birth registry in the study period December 2004–February 2007.

    aGPs with <10 episodes were excluded.

    RTI = respiratory tract infection. Rx-PAD = Peer Academic Detailing.

  • Figure 2.
    • Download figure
    • Open in new tab
    • Download powerpoint
    Figure 2. Diagnosis of respiratory tract infection episodes in study period, showing adjusted odds ratio for 'pregnant' and 95% confidence intervals (significant difference in bold and italic, P<0.05). Diagnoses based on ICPC-2: acute upper respiratory tract infections, URTI (R01–05, 07–29, 74, and 80), tonsillitis (R72 and 76), sinusitis (R75), bronchitis (R78), pneumonia (R81), otitis (H01, 71, 72, and 74), and other respiratory tract infections (R71, 77, 82, and 83). N = 18 890 episodes.
  • Figure 3.
    • Download figure
    • Open in new tab
    • Download powerpoint
    Figure 3. Antibiotic prescriptions for URTIs in patients who were pregnant during study period showing adjusted odds ratio for 'pregnant' and 95% confidence intervals, (significant difference in bold and italic, P<0.05). N = 18 890 episodes.

    aCiprofloxacin and cephalosporins.

    Penicillins WES = penicillins with extended spectrum.

Tables

  • Figures
    • View popup
    Table 1. Characteristics of GPs (n = 458)
    Characteristicn (%)
    Sex
     Female145 (31.7)
     Male313 (68.3)
    Practice location
     Urban247 (53.9)
     Rural211 (46.1)
    Practice type
     Group423 (92.4)
     Single35 (7.6)
    GP specialist
     Yes394 (86)
     No64 (14)
    Mean age, years (SD) 49.7 (8.1)
    Years since authorisation, mean (SD) 19.8 (8.7)
    Listed patientsa, mean (SD) 1341 (385)
    Patient consultations per year, mean (SD) 2886 (996)
    Antibiotic prescription rateb, mean (SD) 29.8 (10.9)
    • aIncludes only GPs with listed patients (n = 449). bPer 100 respiratory tract infection episodes.

    • View popup
    Table 2. Antibiotic prescriptions in respiratory tract infection episodes, showing rates for pregnant and non-pregnant patients, and proportion of non-penicillin V prescriptions for the same groups
    n (%)aORcRR (95% CI)
    Patients with a pregnancy in study period (n = 18 890)
    Antibiotic prescriptionControl5116 (34.2)Ref
    Pregnant1015 (25.9)0.660.74 (0.68 to 0.81)
    Non-penicillin V prescriptionsControl2285 (44.7)Ref
    Pregnant364 (35.9)0.530.67 (0.59 to 0.77)
    • aOR = adjusted odds ratio. 95% CI = 95% confidence interval. cRR = calculated relative risk. Ref = reference.

    • View popup
    Table 3. Antibiotic prescriptions showing rates of dispension at pharmacy (N = 31 265 RTI contacts with GP resulting in a prescription of an antibiotic)
    n (%)aORRRa (95% CI)
    Prescription dispensionControl26 053 (86.6)Ref0.97 (0.94 to 0.99)
    Pregnant974 (83.0)0.79
    Prescription dispension, individualb Control26 053 (86.6)Ref0.96 (0.88 to 1.02)
    Pregnant974 (83.0)0.77
    • aCalculated from odds ratio. bThe second row shows the rates when random intercept clustering at patient level is also adjusted for.

    • aOR = adjusted odds ratio. 95% CI = 95% confidence intervals. Ref = reference. RR = relative risk.

Back to top
Previous ArticleNext Article

In this issue

BJGP Open
Vol. 2, Issue 2
July 2018
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Download PDF
Download PowerPoint
Article Alerts
Or,
sign in or create an account with your email address
Email Article

Thank you for recommending BJGP Open.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person to whom you are recommending the page knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Prescribing antibiotics when the stakes are higher — do GPs prescribe less when patients are pregnant? A retrospective observational study
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from BJGP Open
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from BJGP Open.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Prescribing antibiotics when the stakes are higher — do GPs prescribe less when patients are pregnant? A retrospective observational study
Guro Haugen Fossum, Svein Gjelstad, Kari J Kværner, Morten Lindbaek
BJGP Open 2018; 2 (2): bjgpopen18X101505. DOI: 10.3399/bjgpopen18X101505

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Prescribing antibiotics when the stakes are higher — do GPs prescribe less when patients are pregnant? A retrospective observational study
Guro Haugen Fossum, Svein Gjelstad, Kari J Kværner, Morten Lindbaek
BJGP Open 2018; 2 (2): bjgpopen18X101505. DOI: 10.3399/bjgpopen18X101505
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley

Jump to section

  • Top
  • Article
    • Abstract
    • How this fits in
    • Introduction
    • Method
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Notes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Keywords

  • general practice
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • pregnancy
  • physicians’ practice patterns
  • respiratory tract infections

More in this TOC Section

  • Evaluating the delay prior to primary care presentation in patients with lung cancer: a cohort study
  • Alternative approaches to managing respiratory tract infections: a survey of public perceptions
  • Supporting bereavement and complicated grief in primary care: a realist review
Show more Research

Related Articles

Cited By...

Advertisement

@BJGPOpen's Likes on Twitter

 
 

British Journal of General Practice

NAVIGATE

  • Home
  • Latest articles
  • Authors & reviewers

RCGP

  • British Journal of General Practice
  • BJGP for RCGP members
  • RCGP eLearning
  • InnovAiT Journal
  • Jobs and careers
  • RCGP e-Portfolio

MY ACCOUNT

  • RCGP members' login
  • Terms and conditions

NEWS AND UPDATES

  • About BJGP Open
  • Alerts
  • RSS feeds
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

AUTHORS & REVIEWERS

  • Submit an article
  • Writing for BJGP Open: research
  • Writing for BJGP Open: practice & policy
  • BJGP Open editorial process & policies
  • BJGP Open ethical guidelines
  • Peer review for BJGP Open

CUSTOMER SERVICES

  • Advertising
  • Open access licence

CONTRIBUTE

  • BJGP Life
  • eLetters
  • Feedback

CONTACT US

BJGP Open Journal Office
RCGP
30 Euston Square
London NW1 2FB
Tel: +44 (0)20 3188 7679
Email: bjgpopen@rcgp.org.uk

BJGP Open is an editorially-independent publication of the Royal College of General Practitioners

© 2021 BJGP Open

Online ISSN: 2398-3795