2008•University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology)Requires access
Meer voorschriften voor flucloxacilline bij kinderen in zomer en vroege herfst door toename van impetigo
De Jong, J., Paul B. van den Berg, Tjalling W. de Vries, de Lolkje Jong-van den Berg, Josta de Jong
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Abstract
Objective: In a study about antibiotic drug use we noticed an increase of flucloxacillin prescriptions in the summer and early autumn since 2002. An explanation might be the increase of impetigo among Dutch children. We investigated whether the use of other antibiotic drugs recommended by the guidelines of the Dutch College of General Practitioners increased too between the years 1999 and 2006. Design: This study is a drug utilization study, using pharmacy dispensing data. Methods: We used the database IADB.nl, containing pharmacy dispensing data from community pharmacies in the Netherlands. We selected prescriptions of the systemic drug flucloxacillin and the topical drugs fusidinic acid and mupirocin for children of 0-19 years old. We counted the number of prescriptions per year and per month, assuming that one prescription represents one episode of infection. For the year 2003, we stratified the results into different age groups: 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, and 15-19 year olds. Results: The number of prescriptions of flucloxacillin, fusidinic acid and mupirocin increased from 2002, especially in the summer and early autumn, parallel to the number of impetigo cases. From 2004 the use of mupirocin decreased because of availability problems. These antibiotic drugs are used more by 5-9 year olds than by the other age groups. Flucloxacillin is rarely used by the 0-4 year olds. Conclusion: We found an association between the increase of impetigo in children since 2002 and the increased number of prescriptions of both oral and topical antibiotic drugs.