Incidence of remote consultation on general practitioners’ antibiotic prescriptions in 2021, a French observational study

Background In patients with infectious diseases, remote consultation (RC) may be questionable compared to face-to-face consultation (OC), not only because of the lack of physical examination but also because of the risk of overprescribing antibiotics (ATB)

Aim This study aimed to analyze ATB prescription in OC versus RC in a sample of French general practitioners (GPs).

Design & setting This is a retrospective observational cohort study in general practice in 2021. Anonymized data were collected from voluntary GPs.

Method The influence of the mode of consultation on antibiotic prescription was analysed using a chi² test. A secondary multivariate analysis investigated the factors influencing the use of OC or RC in patients who received at least one antibiotic.

Results 35.503 consultations with identifiable rating were included, corresponding to seven doctors activity practicing with 5 locums and two residents. Antibiotics were prescribed in 10% of RC and 6.7% of OC (P<0.01). RC was associated with more frequent prescription of ATBs for urinary tract infections, and for respiratory and ENT viral infections. For 20–40-year-old patients, ATB prescription was more associated with RC.

Discussion RC is associated with a more frequent ATB prescription than OC, mostly for the 20–40-year-olds, who are most likely to use new technologies; and for urinary tract infections or respiratory and ENT viral infections. Further studies on RC outcomes should be conducted to better analyse the impact of RC on the ATB prescription.