TABLE 2.
Characteristics of questionnaire respondents with different prescribing patterns.
| Characteristics | Overall | Low antibiotic user | Medium antibiotic user | High antibiotic user | p a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of physicians (N, %) | 458 (100%) | 124 (27.07%) | 243 (53.06%) | 91 (19.87%) | — |
| Sociodemographic | |||||
| Age (Mean ± Standard deviation) | 43.53 ± 9.31 | 45.02 ± 10.13 | 43.12 ± 9.02 | 42.62 ± 8.73 | 0.257 |
| Gender | 0.003 | ||||
| Male (N, %) | 330 (100%) | 76 (23.03%) | 180 (54.55%) | 74 (22.42%) | |
| Female (N, %) | 128 (100%) | 48 (37.50%) | 63 (49.22%) | 17 (13.28%) | |
| Educational qualification | 0.018 | ||||
| High school and below (N, %) | 42 (100%) | 8 (19.05%) | 26 (61.90%) | 8 (19.05%) | |
| Diploma and associate degree (N, %) | 241 (100%) | 53 (21.99%) | 135 (56.02%) | 53 (21.99%) | |
| University degree (N, %) | 175 (100%) | 63 (36.00%) | 82 (46.86%) | 30 (17.14%) | |
| Annual household income (Chinese yuan ¥) | <0.001 | ||||
| <40,000 (N, %) | 132 (100%) | 25 (18.94%) | 74 (56.06%) | 33 (25.00%) | |
| 40,000 ∼ (N, %) | 232 (100%) | 55 (23.71%) | 130 (56.03%) | 47 (20.26%) | |
| 80,000 ∼ (N, %) | 70 (100%) | 27 (38.57%) | 33 (47.14%) | 10 (14.29%) | |
| ≥120,000 (N, %) | 24 (100%) | 17 (70.83%) | 6 (25.00%) | 1 (4.17%) | |
| Professional practice | |||||
| Facility | <0.001 | ||||
| Urban community health center (N, %) | 101 (100%) | 55 (54.46%) | 33 (32.67%) | 13 (12.87%) | |
| Rural township health center (N, %) | 357 (100%) | 69 (19.33%) | 210 (58.82%) | 78 (21.85%) | |
| Years of practice (Mean ± Standard deviation) | 16.54 ± 10.01 | 16.01 ± 10.30 | 16.52 ± 10.14 | 17.31 ± 9.17 | 0.520 |
| Sub-specialty | 0.025 | ||||
| General practice (N, %) | 219 (100%) | 67 (30.59%) | 101 (46.12%) | 51 (23.29%) | |
| Internal medicine (N, %) | 117 (100%) | 24 (20.51%) | 73 (62.39%) | 20 (17.09%) | |
| Surgery (N, %) | 56 (100%) | 10 (17.86%) | 34 (60.71%) | 12 (21.42%) | |
| Others (N, %) | 66 (100%) | 23 (34.85%) | 35 (53.03%) | 8 (12.12%) | |
| Professional title | 0.017 | ||||
| Junior (N, %) | 234 (100%) | 50 (21.37%) | 133 (56.84%) | 51 (21.79%) | |
| Middle (N, %) | 176 (100%) | 53 (30.11%) | 90 (51.14%) | 33 (18.75%) | |
| Senior (N, %) | 47 (100%) | 21 (44.68%) | 19 (40.43%) | 7 (14.89%) | |
| Antibiotic training | 0.622 | ||||
| Yes (N, %) | 346 (100%) | 91 (26.30%) | 183 (52.89%) | 72 (20.81%) | |
| No (N, %) | 112 (100%) | 33 (29.46%) | 60 (53.57%) | 19 (16.96%) | |
| Antibiotic knowledge (mean ± SD, range: 0–11) | 6.16 ± 1.49 | 6.54 ± 1.35 | 6.01 ± 1.52 | 6.01 ± 1.47 | 0.002 |
| Antibiotic attitudes (mean ± SD) | |||||
| Complacency (range: 0–8) | 6.42 ± 1.40 | 6.32 ± 1.36 | 6.53 ± 1.36 | 6.23 ± 1.57 | 0.172 |
| Fearful of adverse events (range: 0–12) | 7.72 ± 2.00 | 7.85 ± 1.85 | 7.81 ± 2.01 | 7.30 ± 2.14 | 0.078 |
| Ignorance of antibiotic resistance (range: 0–16) | 11.59 ± 1.69 | 11.46 ± 1.78 | 11.56 ± 1.69 | 11.86 ± 1.52 | 0.210 |
| Responsibility avoidance (range: 0–28) | 9.08 ± 2.72 | 8.97 ± 2.64 | 9.14 ± 2.78 | 9.07 ± 2.67 | 0.708 |
| Indifference to changes (range: 0–4) | 2.98 ± 0.79 | 3.05 ± 0.66 | 2.96 ± 0.83 | 2.91 ± 0.86 | 0.741 |
a
p values of Chi-square tests for categorical variables, Kruskal-Wallis equality-of-populations rank tests for continuous variables without a normal distribution, and ANOVA for continuous variables with a normal distribution.