Introduction:

based on the current literature, the consumption of antibiotics in children is high in Spain. However, there may be large differences even between small geographic areas. The objective of the study was to establish the frequency of antibiotic prescription in the paediatric age group and describe the characteristics of these prescriptions in the in the Barrualde-Galdakao integrated health care area of the Osakidetza-Basque Health System.

Methods:

we made a retrospective analysis of antibiotic prescriptions made to children aged 0 to 13 years in years 2015, 2016 and 2017. We retrieved the data from the Presbide database of the Osakidetza-Basque Health System. We calculated rates of antibiotic-treated episodes and the prevalence of antibiotic use, and analysed the distribution by type of antibiotic.

Results:

we analysed 56 974 antibiotic prescriptions dispensed to 40 824 children over a 3-year period. The number of antibiotic-treated episodes per 1000 children/year was 465.20. The percentage of children who received at least one antibiotic per year was 30.72. The highest rates of antibiotic use occurred in children aged 1 and 2 years (826 and 827 episodes treated/1000 children/year respectively), and 64.61% of the dispensed prescriptions were for amoxicillin

Conclusion:

The frequency of antibiotic use in children found in our study was high compared to countries with a low frequency of antibiotic prescription in Europe and significantly lower compared to the results of other studies conducted in Spain and other Mediterranean countries.

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