Abstract
BackgroundThe objectives of the study were to investigate the level of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding antibiotics of the general population in Italy, and to assess the correlates of these outcomes of interest.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted on a random sample of 630 parents of students attending nine randomly selected public primary and secondary schools. A self-administered questionnaire included questions on demographic characteristics, knowledge about antibiotic use and resistance, attitudes and behaviors towards antibiotic use, and sources of information.ResultsA total of 419 parents participated. Only 9.8% knew the definition of antibiotic resistance and 21.2% knew when it was appropriate to use antibiotics. Respondents with higher education, employed, with a family member working in the health care sector, and with no need for additional information on antibiotics were more likely to know the definition of antibiotic resistance. One third (32.7%) self-classified them as users of self-medication with antibiotics and those with a lower self-rated health status, who did not use the physician as source of information on antibiotics, and who have attended a physician in the last year were more likely to use self-medication. One-fourth (22.7%) of those who had never been self-medicated would be willing to take an antibiotic without a prescription of a physician. Respondents were more likely to be willing to take antibiotics without a prescription if they were under 40 years of age, if they had a lower self-rated health status, if they did not know that antibiotics are not indicated for treating flu and sore throat, and if they knew that antibiotics are not indicated for treating colds.ConclusionsThe survey has generated information about knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding antibiotics in the general population and effective public education initiative should provide practical and appropriate means to change their behavior.
Highlights
The overuse and misuse of antibiotics may generate several problems, including the development of bacterial resistance [1,2,3], the rising costs of health-care services [4,5], and the development of side effects [5,6]
The results revealed that four variables were significantly and independently positively associated with the knowledge of the definition of antibiotic resistance (Model 1)
The analysis of the results of multivariate logistic regression for this outcome showed that respondents were more likely to be willing to be self-medicated if they had a lower self-rated health status (OR = 0.79; 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 0.65–0.95), if they did not know that antibiotics are not indicated for treating flu (OR = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.22–0.82) and sore throat (OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.27–0.95), and if they know that antibiotics are not indicated for treating cold (OR = 2.49; 95% CI = 1.04–5.95)
Summary
The overuse and misuse of antibiotics may generate several problems, including the development of bacterial resistance [1,2,3], the rising costs of health-care services [4,5], and the development of side effects [5,6]. Studies have consistently documented all over the world that the inappropriate and excessive use of antibiotics are the predominant factors that causes the emergence and selection of resistant bacteria with the result of antibiotic resistance that represents one of the most important worldwide issue for global public health and for patient-safety [1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10,11]. The objectives of the study were to investigate the level of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding antibiotics of the general population in Italy, and to assess the correlates of these outcomes of interest
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