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Volume 27, Number 5—May 2021
CME ACTIVITY - Dispatch

Prescribing Antimicrobial Drugs for Acute Gastroenteritis, Primary Care, Australia, 2013–2018

Author affiliations: University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (W.-Q. He, H. Hall, B. Liu); Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia (M.D. Kirk)

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Introduction

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Release date: May 23, 2021; Expiration date: May 23, 2022
Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

  • Distinguish the rate of antibiotic prescriptions for AGE in the current study

  • Assess variables associated with higher rates of antibiotic prescriptions for AGE

  • Analyze trends in antibiotic prescribing for AGE

  • Identify the most common antibiotic class prescribed in cases of AGE

CME Editor

P. Lynne Stockton Taylor, VMD, MS, ELS(D), Technical Writer/Editor, Emerging Infectious Diseases. Disclosure: P. Lynne Stockton Taylor, VMD, MS, ELS(D), has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

CME Author

Charles P. Vega, MD, Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, California. Disclosure: Charles P. Vega, MD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships: served as an advisor or consultant for GlaxoSmithKline.

Authors

Disclosures: Wen-Qiang He, PhD; Martyn David Kirk, BAppSci, MAppEpid, PhD; John Hall, MBBS, MTPH, PhD; and Bette Liu, MBBS, MPH, DPhil, have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

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Abstract

During 2013–2018, antimicrobial drugs were prescribed for 6.8% of cases of acute gastroenteritis encountered in general practice in Australia, including 35.7% of Salmonella infections and 54.1% of Campylobacter infections. During that time, prescriptions for acute gastroenteritis decreased by 2.0%. Managing infectious gastroenteritis in general practice will require greater antimicrobial stewardship.

Worldwide every year, acute gastroenteritis causes a loss of ≈89.5 million disability-adjusted life-years and 1.45 million deaths (1). In 2010, an estimated 16.6 million persons in Australia (population 22 million [2]) were affected, and ≈1.1 million of these persons sought care at a general practice (3,4). The most common cause of acute gastroenteritis is viral infection; therefore, antimicrobial drugs are not routinely recommended (57). Even for some common bacterial causes of acute gastroenteritis (e.g., nontyphoidal Salmonella and Campylobacter infections), antimicrobial therapy is not required for most patients because these infections are usually self-limiting (8).

Overuse of antimicrobial drugs for treating upper respiratory tract infections (mostly caused by viruses) has been well described (9,10) but not as much for acute gastroenteritis (11). Knowing the extent and pattern of antimicrobial drug use for acute gastroenteritis can help determine whether interventions to improve antimicrobial drug use for this specific clinical scenario are warranted.

We examined prescription of antimicrobial drugs for acute gastroenteritis in primary care practice in Australia during 2013–2018. The study was approved by the MedicineInsight Independent External Data Governance Committee (reference no. 2019-030: December 23, 2019) and the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee (no. HC190886).

The Study

We extracted clinical encounters for cases (including multiple episodes/patient) of acute gastroenteritis, nontyphoidal Salmonella infection, and Campylobacter infection recorded by MedicineInsight, a national primary healthcare database in Australia (https://www.nps.org.au/medicine-insight) during 2013–2018 and examined whether an antimicrobial drug was prescribed on the day of diagnosis (Appendix). Antimicrobial drugs were prescribed for 6.8% (6,652/98,496) of cases of acute gastroenteritis, including 35.7% (391/1,096) cases of nontyphoidal Salmonella infection and 54.1% (1,066/1,969) cases of Campylobacter infection.

Antimicrobial drug prescriptions for acute gastroenteritis increased with patient age (<10 years, 3.8%; >65 years, 13.7%) (Table 1). Antimicrobial drugs were more likely to be prescribed for those with than without the following: fever or no temperature measurement, a requested fecal sample test, underlying conditions, or a record of bacterial or parasitic infection. Antimicrobial drugs were less likely to be prescribed for those with a record of viral infection. Prescribing also differed by practice remoteness; prescribing was higher in practices in more remote areas than in cities. During the study period, the trend toward antimicrobial drug prescribing decreased from 7.8% to 5.8% (p<0.001). Similar findings were observed for children <10 years of age (Appendix Table 1).

The greatest reductions in antimicrobial drug prescriptions were found for those >65 years of age (2.8% absolute reduction from 13.4% to 10.6% (p = 0.049). The next greatest reductions were for those 30–49 years of age (2.4% absolute reduction from 8.3% to 5.9%; p = 0.006), 10–29 years (from 6.7% to 4.8%; p<0.001), and <10 years (from 4.8% to 3.0%; p = 0.03) (Figure 1).

For patients with nontyphoidal Salmonella infection (Appendix Table 2), prescriptions for antimicrobial drugs were more likely for those 30–49 than those <10 years of age (41.7% vs. 34.1%; p = 0.02) and in practices in outer regional or remote areas than in cities. Trend analysis of antimicrobial drug prescriptions for patients with nontyphoidal Salmonella infection suggested a significant reduction; absolute reduction was 11.4% (from 42.1% in 2013 to 30.7% in 2018; p = 0.01). For patients with Campylobacter infection (Appendix Table 3), antimicrobial drugs were more likely to be prescribed for female than male patients (56.8% vs. 51.7%; p = 0.02). We observed no significant reduction in antimicrobial drug prescriptions for patients with Campylobacter infection (55.8% to 57.1%; p = 0.81).

Of the 6,652 acute gastroenteritis cases for which antimicrobial drugs were prescribed, a reason was recorded for 42.9% (2,854/6,652), including 80.4% (2,295/2,854) for acute gastroenteritis, 1.1% (30/2,854) for other gastrointestinal illnesses, 5.7% (162/2,854) for respiratory tract infections, 1.8% (50/2,854) for urinary tract infections, and 11.1% (317/2,854) for other reasons. Of the 6,652 acute gastroenteritis cases for which antimicrobial drugs were prescribed, 7,159 prescriptions were written: 1 for 92.9% (6,179/6,652) of cases and >2 (range 2–5) for 7.1% (473/6,652). The predominant class of drug prescribed for acute gastroenteritis was nitroimidazoles (41.6% of total; Table 2), of which metronidazole accounted for the most prescriptions (24.7% of total; Appendix Table 4).

Prescriptions of cephalosporins, quinolones, and nitroimidazoles decreased significantly over the study period (Figure 2). The greatest reduction was for nitroimidazoles (absolute reduction from 3.9% to 2.3%; p = 0.001), followed by quinolones (1.3% to 0.8%; p = 0.02) and cephalosporins (0.7% to 0.5%; p = 0.049). However, prescriptions of macrolides increased significantly (0.6% to 1.0%; p = 0.01).

For the 391 cases of nontyphoidal Salmonella infection, a total of 418 prescriptions were written: 1 for 93.1% (364/391) and 2 for 6.9% (27/391). No dominant antimicrobial drugs were prescribed for patients with nontyphoidal Salmonella; most commonly prescribed were quinolones (30.4% of total; Table 2). For 1,066 cases of Campylobacter infection, 1,165 prescriptions were written: 1 for 91.0% (970/1,066) and >2 (range 2–4) for 9.0% (96/1,066). The predominant antimicrobial drugs prescribed for Campylobacter infections were macrolides (70.9% of total; Table 2), of which most were azithromycin (44.4% of total; Appendix Table 4).

Conclusions

In this large study of patient clinical encounters in general practices in Australia, we found that antimicrobial drugs were prescribed for 6.8% of all cases of acute gastroenteritis but for 35.7% of nontyphoidal Salmonella infections and 54.1% of Campylobacter infections. Over the 6-year study period, the absolute proportion of cases for which antimicrobial drugs were prescribed for acute gastroenteritis decreased by 2%.

Of the few studies reporting on how often antimicrobial drugs are prescribed for acute gastroenteritis, estimates range from 8.5% of 2,089 cases in a sentinel surveillance sample from primary care in Switzerland in 2014 (12) to 65% in a survey of 237 physicians in China in 2012 (13). Our results were most similar to the estimates reported from the Switzerland study, which also found that antimicrobial drugs were more likely to be prescribed for older patients and those with fever (12).

In Australia, treatment guidelines recommend that empirical prescription of antimicrobial drugs is of no benefit for acute gastroenteritis and is indicated only for patients with manifestations of severe disease, those who are immunocompromised, returned travelers of all ages, or children in whom systemic bacterial infection is suspected (7). Our results suggest that general practitioners are more likely to adhere to guidelines and that antimicrobial drugs are more likely to be prescribed for patients who are older, those with underlying conditions, and those with systemic symptoms (e.g., fever). However, the substantial numbers of patients without these indications for whom antimicrobial drugs were still prescribed suggests overuse of antimicrobial drugs for acute gastroenteritis.

Reassuringly, we did find reduced antimicrobial drug prescriptions for acute gastroenteritis during the 6-year study period. This finding is consistent with that of an earlier study that used the same dataset and found an overall reduction in the proportion of patients for whom systemic antimicrobial drugs were prescribed: from 31.7% in 2015 to 26% in 2017 (14). This reduction has been attributed to a series of antimicrobial stewardship programs implemented during 2009–2014, which included educational and advertising campaigns aimed at general practitioners and consumers (15). Our results suggest that these antimicrobial stewardship programs may have reduced antimicrobial drug prescriptions for acute gastroenteritis.

Given the estimated 1.1 million cases of acute gastroenteritis seen in general practices in Australia annually (3), we estimate that nationwide ≈74,000 antimicrobial drugs are prescribed for acute gastroenteritis every year. Because most of these drugs are probably unnecessary, our findings highlight the need for greater antimicrobial stewardship to support management of infectious gastroenteritis in primary care.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the MedicineWise MedicineInsight for providing the data for this study. We are grateful to the general practices and general practitioners who participate in MedicineInsight and the patients who allowed the use of de-identified information for MedicineInsight.

This work was supported by the funding from School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales (grant no. SPF02 to WQH). B.L. and M.D.K. were funded by fellowships funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Data and more information may be obtained from MedicineWise MedicineInsight (https://www.nps.org.au/medicine-insight).

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References

  1. Hay  SI, Abajobir  AA, Abate  KH, Abbafati  C, Abbas  KM, Abd-Allah  F, et al.; GBD 2016 DALYs and HALE Collaborators. Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 333 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2017;390:1260344. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Gibney  KB, O’Toole  J, Sinclair  M, Leder  K. Disease burden of selected gastrointestinal pathogens in Australia, 2010. Int J Infect Dis. 2014;28:17685. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Britt  H. BEACH—bettering the evaluation and care of health: a continuous national study of general practice activity. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2003;27:3913.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Chen  Y, Ford  L, Hall  G, Dobbins  T, Kirk  M. Healthcare utilization and lost productivity due to infectious gastroenteritis, results from a national cross-sectional survey Australia 2008-2009. Epidemiol Infect. 2016;144:2416. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Graves  NS. Acute gastroenteritis. Prim Care. 2013;40:72741. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Hall  G, Kirk  MD, Becker  N, Gregory  JE, Unicomb  L, Millard  G, et al.; OzFoodNet Working Group. Estimating foodborne gastroenteritis, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11:125764. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. Therapeutic Guidelines: acute infectious diarrhoea [cited 2020 Mar 28]. https://tgldcdp.tg.org.au/viewTopic?topicfile=acute-gastroenteritis&guidelineName=Antibiotic#toc_d1e47
  8. Zollner-Schwetz  I, Krause  R. Therapy of acute gastroenteritis: role of antibiotics. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2015;21:7449. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. McCullough  AR, Pollack  AJ, Plejdrup Hansen  M, Glasziou  PP, Looke  DF, Britt  HC, et al. Antibiotics for acute respiratory infections in general practice: comparison of prescribing rates with guideline recommendations. Med J Aust. 2017;207:659. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. Linder  JA, Stafford  RS. Antibiotic treatment of adults with sore throat by community primary care physicians: a national survey, 1989-1999. JAMA. 2001;286:11816. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. He  WQ, Kirk  MD, Sintchenko  V, Hall  JJ, Liu  B. Antibiotic use associated with confirmed influenza, pertussis, and nontyphoidal Salmonella infections. Microb Drug Resist. 2020;26:148290. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. Schmutz  C, Bless  PJ, Mäusezahl  D, Jost  M, Mäusezahl-Feuz  M; Swiss Sentinel Surveillance Network. Acute gastroenteritis in primary care: a longitudinal study in the Swiss Sentinel Surveillance Network, Sentinella. Infection. 2017;45:81124. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. Ke  B, Ran  L, Wu  S, Deng  X, Ke  C, Feng  Z, et al. Survey of physician diagnostic and treatment practices for patients with acute diarrhea in Guangdong province, China. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2012;9:4753. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  14. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. AURA 2019: third Australian report on antimicrobial use and resistance in human health [cited 2020 Mar 28]. https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/publications-and-resources/resource-library/aura-2019-third-australian-report-antimicrobial-use-and-resistance-human-health
  15. Wu  J, Taylor  D, Ovchinikova  L, Heaney  A, Morgan  T, Dartnell  J, et al. Relationship between antimicrobial-resistance programs and antibiotic dispensing for upper respiratory tract infection: An analysis of Australian data between 2004 and 2015. J Int Med Res. 2018;46:132638. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

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Article Title: 
Prescribing Antimicrobial Drugs for Acute Gastroenteritis, Primary Care, Australia, 2013–2018
CME Questions
  • What was the overall approximate rate of antibiotic prescriptions for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in the current study?

    • 0.2%

    • 7%

    • 22%

    • 63%

  • Antibiotic prescriptions were associated with which of the following patient characteristics in the current study?

    • Younger age and living in urban areas

    • Older age and living in urban areas

    • Younger age and living in rural areas

    • Older age and living in rural areas

  • Which of the following trends was noted in antibiotic prescribing for AGE in the current study?

    • There was a gradual decrease in the rate of antibiotic prescribing for AGE

    • The rate of antibiotic prescriptions for AGE was fairly static over time

    • There was a gradual increase in the rate of antibiotic prescribing for AGE

    • The rate of antibiotic prescriptions for AGE increased the most among older adults

  • Which of the following drug classes was most prescribed for AGE in the current study?

    • Nitroimidazoles

    • Cephalosporins

    • Fluoroquinolones

    • Macrolides

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid2705.203692

Original Publication Date: April 26, 2021

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Wen-Qiang He, Rm 210, Samuels Blg, School of Population Health, UNSW, Samuel Terry Ave, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

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Page created: April 22, 2021
Page updated: April 26, 2021
Page reviewed: April 26, 2021
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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