Table 3.
Factors associated with antibiotic use in pre-school children
| Unadjusted Antibiotic use | Adjusted OR | ||||
| Factor (survey timepoint) | Categories | Yes | No | P value | |
| Homeopathic use (54 months) | Yes | 383 (66.1%) | 196 (33.9%) | p = 0.024 | 0.84 (0.65, 1.09) |
| No | 5619 (61.4%) | 3525 (38.6%) | |||
| Mother has use of car (33 months) | Yes, own | 4924 (61.9%) | 3025 (38.1%) | p = 0.039 | * |
| Yes, can borrow | 120 (62.8%) | 71 (37.2%) | |||
| No | 305 (56.6%) | 235 (43.5%) | |||
| Mum contacts GP when child ill (54 months) | Always | 1026 (65.2%) | 525 (33.8%) | p < 0.0001 | 1.00 |
| Usually | 1962 (66.7%) | 978 (33.3%) | 0.97 (0.85, 1.12) | ||
| Sometimes | 2375 (57.2%) | 1778 (42.8%) | 0.69 (0.60, 0.78) | ||
| Never | 57 (38.5%) | 91 (61.5%) | 0.35 (0.24, 0.50) | ||
| Mum asks chemist when child ill (54 months) | Always | 15 (62.5%) | 9 (37.5%) | p = 0.036 | * |
| Usually | 160 (59.0%) | 111 (41.0%) | |||
| Sometimes | 3427 (62.8%) | 2028 (37.2%) | |||
| Never | 1818 (59.8%) | 1224 (40.2%) | |||
| What mum does with prescribed medicines (54 months) | Use all up | 4346 (66.5%) | 2194 (33.5%) | p < 0.0001 | * |
| Use until better | 597 (51.0%) | 573 (49%) | |||
| Save some | 63 (54.8%) | 52 (45.2%) | |||
| Share it | 10 (62.5%) | 6 (37.5%) | |||
| Back to doctor | 36 (70.6%) | 15 (29.4%) | |||
| stopped | 28 (57.1%) | 21 (42.9%) | |||
| Maternal anxiety (47 months) | Yes | 1380 (65.3%) | 732 (34.7%) | p < 0.0001 | 1.15 (1.03, 1.29) |
| No | 4078 (60.4%) | 2672 (39.6%) | |||
| Child's general health (42 months) | Very healthy/mostly well | 5289 (61.1%) | 3368 (38.9%) | p < 0.0001 | 1.00 |
| Sometimes ill/never well | 234 (79.6%) | 60 (20.0%) | 1.18 (0.85, 1.65) | ||
| Child had vitamins since age 3 (54 months) | Yes | 2365 (67.9%) | 1118 (32.1%) | p < 0.0001 | 1.46 (1.33, 1.61) |
| No | 3635 (58.6%) | 2573 (41.4%) | |||
| Child had wheeze (42 months) | Yes | 1018 (73.0%) | 376 (27.0%) | p < 0.0001 | 1.65 (1.44, 1.89) |
| No | 4558 (59.6%) | 3084 (40.4%) | |||
| Child had earache (42 months) | Yes | 2168 (76.9%) | 650 (23.1%) | p < 0.0001 | 2.70 (2.41, 3.02) |
| No | 3408 (54.8%) | 2810 (45.2%) | |||
| Child had cough (42 months) | Yes | 4988 (62.9%) | 2944 (37.1%) | p < 0.0001 | 1.11 (0.82, 1.49) |
| No | 588 (53.3%) | 516 (46.7%) | |||
| Child had high temperature (42 months) | Yes | 3812 (66.7%) | 1901 (33.3%) | p < 0.0001 | * |
| No | 1764 (53.1%) | 1559 (46.9%) | |||
| Child had food allergies (42 months) | Yes | 5522(61.1%) | 3513(38.9%) | p < 0.0001 | * |
| No | 480 (69.6%) | 210 (30.4%) | |||
| Child had dry itchy rash (42 months) | Yes | 1317 (64.3%) | 730 (35.7%) | p = 0.006 | * |
| No | 4222 (61%) | 2704 (39%) | |||
* = factor not included in final model as p > 0.05