Use of antibiotics for patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of upper respiratory tract infections of less than 3 days to an outpatient department of a tertiary hospital in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) include common cold, pharyngitis, sinusitis, tracheobronchitis and influenza. URTIs are generally due to viral infections and do not require antibiotic treatment. But unnecessary use of antibiotics for URTIs is common all over the world. Objectives: Objective of this study was to identify use of antibiotics for patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of URTI for less than 3 days to an outpatient department (OPD) of the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya (THK), Sri Lanka. Methods: Study was conducted as a cross sectional study using an interviewer administrated questionnaire. Results: Total of 612 patients with symptoms suggestive of URIs for less than three days were included in the study, of which, 440 were prescribed antibiotics (71.90%). The most commonly used antibiotic was amoxicillin and the least commonly used antibiotic was co-amoxiclav. Percentages of antibiotic prescription were 65.1%, 76.1% and 71.4% for below 12 years, between 12 – 60 years and above 60 years age categories respectively. Patients with sore throat, hoarseness and myalgia received the highest percentage of antibiotics. Similar percentage of patients with symptoms for less than 24hrs as well as more than 48hrs were prescribed antibiotics. Conclusions: Prescription of antibiotics in OPD of THK is considerable high for URIs. Rate of antibiotics prescription reported in this study is the highest rate compared to all other studies published on antibiotic prescription for URTI.