Table 2.
Antibiotics prescribing rate and characteristics of prescribed antibiotics among children aged 2–14 with URI stratified by health facility level in rural Guangxi, China (2014).
| County hospital | Township hospital | Village clinic | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total URI prescriptions | 8166 | 877 | 297 | 9340 |
| Total prescriptions with antibiotics* | 2736 (34) | 593 (68) | 96 (32) | 3425 (37) |
| No. of antibiotics prescribed* | ||||
| 1 | 1438 (53) | 506 (85) | 96 (100) | 2040 (59) |
| 2 | 558 (20) | 82 (14) | 0 | 640 (19) |
| ≥ 3 | 740 (27) | 5 (1) | 0 | 745 (22) |
| Category of antibioticsa | ||||
| Penicillinb*** | 1212 (44) | 301 (51) | 32 (33) | 1545 (45) |
| Broad-spectrum penicillin | 640 (53) | 173 (58) | 15 (47) | 828 (54) |
| Narrow-spectrum penicillin* | 695 (57) | 131 (44) | 17 (53) | 843 (55) |
| Cephalosporin* | 2019 (74) | 208 (35) | 28 (29) | 2255 (66) |
| Cephalosporin I* | 492 (24) | 96 (46) | 23 (82) | 611 (27) |
| Cephalosporin II* | 1257 (62) | 57 (27) | 2 (7) | 1316 (58) |
| Cephalosporin III* | 1300 (64) | 75 (36) | 3 (11) | 1378 (61) |
| Macrolides** | 238 (9) | 37 (6) | 4 (4) | 279 (8) |
| Lincosamides* | 109 (4) | 59 (10) | 0 | 168 (5) |
| Aminoglycosides* | 10 (< 1) | 40 (7) | 32 (33) | 82 (2) |
| Quinolones | 0 | 1 (< 1) | 0 | 1 (< 1) |
| Spectrum category of antibiotics* | ||||
| Narrow-spectrum only | 502 (18) | 255 (43) | 44 (46) | 801 (23) |
| Including broad-spectrum | 2234 (82) | 338 (57) | 52 (54) | 2624 (77) |
| Prescription type* | ||||
| Oral antibiotics only | 956 (35) | 336 (57) | 64 (67) | 1356 (40) |
| Including injectable | 1780 (65) | 257 (43) | 32 (33) | 2069 (60) |
| Average prescription fee (USD)* | 38 (±50) | 5 (±3) | 2 (±1) | 31 (±47) |
| < 8 | 653 (24) | 484 (82) | 96 (100) | 1233 (36) |
| 8–32 | 1067 (39) | 109 (18) | 0 | 1176 (34) |
| > 32 | 1016 (37) | 0 | 0 | 1016 (30) |
Notes: Data are n (%) or mean (± standard deviation). ANOVA or chi-square test was used to find the statistical difference among health facilities of three levels: *p < 0.001; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.
More than one category of antibiotics may be prescribed in one prescription, thus the proportion may add up to more than 100%.
Penicillin included first generation of penicillin (penicillin G, penicillin V, procaine penicillin, and benzathine penicillin) and second/third generation of penicillin.