VARIATION IN ACCEPTANCE OF COMMON ORAL ANTIBIOTIC SUSPENSIONS

Palatability of oral antibiotic suspensions is important and may be a substantial factor in determining compliance in young pediatric patien ts. Because no comparative systematic data are available, we undertook the present study to assess the acceptance of and compliance with ora l antibiotic suspensions commonly used in Israel. During a 4-month per iod lists of children receiving oral antibiotic suspensions were obtai ned from 3 major pediatric clinics, and parents were contacted by tele phone 10 to 14 days after initiation of therapy, at which time informa tion on age, sex, main disease, prescribed drugs and duration of treat ment was obtained. Information regarding acceptance, side effects and compliance was obtained from 11 questions with graded scores. In the s tudy 546 children received one of the following drugs: amoxicillin (n = 222); cefaclor (n - 142); cefuroxime axetil (n = 107); trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole (n = 75). No major differences in background data wer e noted; more than 50% of each group had acute otitis media. Seventy-t hree percent of the cefaclor group reported acceptance of the drug wit h ''pleasure'' or ''without problems'' vs. 60, 55 and 20% for amoxicil lin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and cefuroxime axetil, respectively , whereas ''resentment'' or ''refusal'' was reported in 11, 16, 26 and 56%, respectively (P < 0.0001). Mothers reported to be generally ''sa tisfied'' or ''extremely satisfied'' with the drug in 89, 81, 74 and 6 7% with cefaclor, amoxicillin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and cefur oxime axetil, respectively, and 85, 77, 73 and 67% of the children, re spectively, received the drug for the entire prescribed course (P < 0. 001). Our data demonstrate that marked variations exist in acceptance and compliance of oral antibiotic suspensions with children. These fin dings should influence the choice of drugs for young pediatric patient s with common infections.