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. 2021 Jun 21;181(10):1399–1402. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.2621

Figure 2. Ambulatory Antibiotic Prescribing Rates July 2018 Through February 2021.

Figure 2.

Antibiotic prescriptions were normalized by the number of patient encounters. Indication was captured using a required order form element within the electronic health record. A, Ambulatory antibiotic prescribing rates for all indications (orange), non–respiratory tract infection (RTI) indications (eg, urinary tract infection; black), and RTI indications (dark gray). Circles indicate the prepandemic period, and the triangles and blue background indicate the COVID-19 pandemic period. The dotted line denotes the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. B, Ambulatory antibiotic prescription rates (95% CI) for RTI during the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 pandemic periods, adjusted for seasonality. C, Ambulatory antibiotic prescription rates for RTI by month stratified by prepandemic period (circles) and pandemic period (triangles). Individual points denote observed prescription rates. The black line represents the generalized additive model prediction (shaded area, 95% CI) for antibiotic prescriptions for RTI adjusted for seasonality.