Table 2.
Main findings of studies.
| Indication for antibiotics, study (author, year) | Remote consultations, N | Face-to-face consultations (control), N | Outcome measures | Results | ||
| Antibiotic-prescribing rate higher in remote consultations | ||||||
|
|
Mehrotra et al, 2012 [22] | |||||
|
|
|
Sinusitis | 475 | 4690 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea | Intervention: 99%, control: 94% (P<.001) |
|
|
|
Urinary tract infection | 99 | 2855 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea | Intervention: 99%, control: 49% (P<.001) |
|
|
Uscher-Pines et al, 2016 [24] | |||||
|
|
|
Uncomplicated acute bronchitis | 168 | 7342 | Antibiotic-avoidance rateb | Intervention: 16.7%, control: 27.9% (P<.01) |
|
|
Ray et al, 2019 [27] | |||||
|
|
|
Acute respiratory infection | 4604 | 38408 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea | Intervention: 52%, control: 31% (P<.001) |
|
|
Penza et alc, 2020 [19] | |||||
|
|
|
Conjunctivitis | 101 | 202 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea during telephone consultations | Intervention: 41.6%, control: 19.8% (P<.0001) |
| Antibiotic-prescribing rate lower in remote consultations | ||||||
|
|
Rokstad and Straand, 1997 [20] | |||||
|
|
|
Not specified | 24983 | 42202 | Proportion of prescriptions and antibiotics prescriptions made through each consultation type | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea lower in intervention* Intervention: 43.5% of all prescriptions; 7.8% of remote prescriptions were antibiotics Control: 56.6% of all prescriptions; 17.8% of face-to-face prescriptions were antibiotics |
|
|
Huibers et ald, 2014 [16] | |||||
|
|
|
Not specified | 382748 | 180032 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea | Intervention: 26.1% (95% CI 25.9-26.3) Control: 10.7% (95% CI 10.6-10.8) |
|
|
Ewen et al, 2015 [23] | |||||
|
|
|
Not specified | 61707e | 61707e | Proportion of antibiotics prescriptions out of all prescriptions | 12.4% of all antibiotics prescriptions made through telephone (6617 telephone consultations and 27,487 office consultations; 63,418 antibiotics were prescribed during 61,707 consultations to 31,302 individuals)* |
|
|
Shi et al, 2018 [25] | |||||
|
|
|
Acute respiratory infection | 38839 | 942163 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea | Intervention: 52%, control: 53% (P<.01) |
|
|
Johnson et al, 2019 [26] | |||||
|
|
|
Sinusitis | 175 | 175 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea | Intervention: 68.6%, control: 94.3% (P<.001) |
| No significant difference in antibiotic-prescribing rate | ||||||
|
|
McKinstry et al, 2002 [21] | |||||
|
|
|
Not specified | 187 | 181 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea | Intervention: 19.3%, control: 16.0%; difference: −3.3% (95% CI −11.1% to 4.5%) |
|
|
Murray et al, 2019 [18] | |||||
|
|
|
Urinary tract infection | 150 | 150 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea in telephone consultations | Intervention: 81%, control: 83% (P=.76) |
|
|
|
Urinary tract infection | 150 | 150 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea from text-based e-visits | Intervention: 81%, control: 83% (P=.65) |
|
|
Penza et alc, 2020 [19] | |||||
|
|
|
Conjunctivitis | 101 | 202 | Antibiotic-prescribing ratea from text-based e-visits | Intervention: 25.7%, control: 19.8% (P=.24) |
aAntibiotic-prescribing rate: percentage of consultations that resulted in antibiotic management per consultation type.
bAntibiotic-avoidance rate: percentage of patients that did not receive antibiotics for uncomplicated acute bronchitis, as they had no clinical indication.
cResults of the same study for different populations reported separately.
d[16] and [17] are articles published on the same study. The results from the Huibers et al [16] study are reported in this table.
eNumber of remote consultations and face-to-face consultations in this study was not available. The number of consultations altogether has been reported instead.
*P values or confidence intervals not reported in the original studies.