Acute upper respirtory tract infections in everyday family practice

Sa？etak OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate family physicians' habits in antibiotic prescribing for upper airway respiratory tract infections and to determine wheather their decision depends on factors related to patients and doctors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 4373 patients were included in this research. Data were collected in the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016. There were 8073 cases diagnosed as J00-J06 or H65-H67. This research included nine family medicine practices with an average of 1229 patients (min. 746, max. 1410). The observed characteristics among the patients were age, gender and laboratory findings and those observed among the doctors were age, gender, work experience and specialization. RESULTS: Antibiotics were prescribed for 58.4% of acute upper respiratory tract infections. The most common antibiotic prescribed was amoxicilin+clavulanic acid (25.1%) followed by azithromycin (16.8%) and amoxicilin (5.2%). Antibiotic was not prescribed (51.1%) for most cases of acute nasopharyngitis (J00). The most common antibiotic prescribed for acute sinusitis (J01),was clarithromycin (67.5%) while acute pharyngitis (J02) was most commonly treated with amoxicilin (78.6%). The most common antibiotic for acute tonsilitis (J03) was penicilin (82.1%), and for acute middle ear infection (H65, H66, H67) cefuroxime (24.8%). There was statistically significant difference in antibiotic prescribing with respect to the patients' age, gender and laboratory findings as well as with respect to physicians' work experience and specialization. CONCLUSION: Family physicians do not follow recommended guidelines in the treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infections except in cases of acute pharyngitis and tonsilitis. Prescribing decisions are influenced by patients' age and gender and the existance of laboratory findings as well as physicians' age, work experience and specialization