OBJECTIVES

: What percentage of children diagnosed with otitis media receive a prescription for an antibiotic ain ENT specialists and pediatricians?

METHODS

: Children between the ages of 1 and 10 who received a confirmed diagnosis of acute otitis media (ICD-10: H65.0, H65.1 (nonsuppurative otitis media), H66.0 (suppurative otitis media) from an ENT specialist (ENT) or pediatrician (PD) between 2015 and 2017 (Disease Analyzer database, IQVIA) were selected for the study. The proportion of children who received a prescription for an antibiotic on the day of their initial diagnosis was determined. The impact of specialist group, age, sex, and type of diagnosis (suppurative, serous, nonsuppurative) on physicians' prescription behavior was determined using multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS

: A total of 3,727 children in 119 ENT practices and 11,105 children in 216 pediatric practices were available for analysis. Children in ENT practices had an average age of 5.0, while children in PD practices were 3.4 years old on average. There was no significant difference in the percentages of children who received antibiotic prescriptions from ENT specialists versus pediatricians (22.0% versus 21.6%). In total, 28.4% of children with suppurative otitis media and 2.8% of children with nonsuppurative otitis media received antibiotics. In the regression model, suppurative otitis media (OR: 13.8; p<0.001), serous otitis media (OR: 3.2, p<0.001), and age ≤ 2 years (OR: 1.2; p<0.001) were associated with antibiotic prescriptions. No significant effects were found for the child's sex and whether they were treated in an ENT practice (as opposed to a pediatric practice).

CONCLUSIONS

: Pediatricians and ENT specialists frequently prescribe antibiotics to children with otitis media immediately upon diagnosis. Antibiotic prescriptions were particularly common in children with suppurative otitis media and in young children (< 2 years), which is in line with the guideline recommendations.