Antibiotic consumption in children prior to diagnosis of asthma

BMC Pulmonary Medicine

Table 3 Rate ratios of the frequency of antibiotic dispensing in month before the index date compared to 5 months before in significant subgroups

			Rate of ABX per	Rate of ABX per	Rate of ABX in month before diagnosis vs 5 months before
			100 PY (month	100 PY (1-6 months
Subgroup	n	%	before diagnosis)	before diagnosis)	RR	95% CI	p
Overall	18,864	100.0	273.1	164.9	1.66	1.60 - 1.71	<.0001
Gender
Female	7,762	41.2	284.5	160.4	1.77	1.68 - 1.87	<.0001
Male	11,102	58.9	265.1	168.1	1.58	1.51 - 1.65	<.0001
Season of asthma diagnosis
Winter	5,085	27.0	336.3	155.1	2.17	2.04 - 2.30	<.0001
Spring	5,140	27.2	290.9	202.9	1.43	1.35 - 1.53	<.0001
Summer	3,142	16.7	210.8	191.7	1.10	1.00 - 1.21	0.04
Fall	5,156	27.3	249.0	131.2	1.90	1.77 - 2.04	<.0001
Allergist/respirologist/immunologist visit (in last year)
No	18,487	98.0	274.1	164.4	1.67	1.61 - 1.73	<.0001
Yes	377	2.0	213.2	193.4	1.10	0.80 - 1.51	0.54
Physician visits in last year (quintiles)
0-2	2,838	15.0	81.6	36.8	2.22	1.86 - 2.64	<.0001
3-4	3,147	16.7	155.2	80.0	1.94	1.73 - 2.18	<.0001
5-9	4,626	24.5	228.3	131.2	1.74	1.61 - 1.88	<.0001
10-12	4,308	22.8	336.2	197.6	1.70	1.59 - 1.82	<.0001
>12	3,945	20.9	488.5	328.6	1.49	1.41 - 1.57	<.0001
SES in the year before diagnosis (quintiles of whole population)
First quintile	4,357	23.1	204.5	120.4	1.70	1.59 - 1.70	<.0001
Second quintile	4,074	21.6	185.6	114.8	1.62	1.51 - 1.62	<.0001
Third quintile	3,744	19.9	195.9	109.1	1.80	1.66 - 1.80	<.0001
Fourth quintile	3,290	17.4	165.1	103.0	1.60	1.47 - 1.60	<.0001
Fifth quintile	2,744	14.6	146.4	97.1	1.51	1.36 - 1.51	<.0001

Abbreviations: ABX - antibiotics; PY - person years; RR - rate ratio
* Socioeconomic status by neighborhood income quintiles - the fifth is the highest income quintile and the first is the lowest income quintile.

ISSN: 1471-2466