Table 2.
Number of disease episodes and episodes with antibiotic prescription for respiratory tract and ear infection episodes per age category in 2019 and 2020 (March through May).
| Age | Registered Patients | Episodes Total | Episodes with Antibiotics | Prescription Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | n | n | n | RR (CI) | n | n | RR (CI) | % | % | % 2020 minus % 2019 (CI) | |
| 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | 2020 | ||||
| 0–12 | 61,414 | 62,505 | 4262 | 2651 | 0.61 (0.58 to 0.64) † | 943 | 428 | 0.44 (0.40 to 0.50) † | 22% | 16% | −6.0% (−7.8% to −4.1%) † |
| 13–40 | 156,535 | 166,306 | 4998 | 5166 | 0.94 (0.91 to 0.98) † | 960 | 530 | 0.52 (0.47 to 0.58) † | 19% | 10% | −9.0% (−10.4% to −7.6%) † |
| 41–65 | 120,787 | 123,710 | 4555 | 5322 | 1.14 (1.10 to 1.19) † | 932 | 614 | 0.64 (0.58 to 0.71) † | 20% | 12% | −8.0% (−9.5% to −6.6%) † |
| >65 | 50,968 | 53,163 | 2857 | 2441 | 0.82 (0.78 to 0.86) † | 732 | 450 | 0.59 (0.52 to 0.66) † | 26% | 18% | −8.0% (−10.2 to −5.8%) † |
| Total | 389,704 * | 405,684 * | 16,672 | 15,580 | 0.90 (0.88 to 0.92) † | 3567 | 2022 | 0.54 (0.52 to 0.58) † | 21% | 13% | −8.0% (−8.8% to −7.2%) † |
* Four patients were left out due to unknown age. † Values with a significance level p < 0.05. Abbreviations: abx: antibiotics; CI: confidence interval.