Trends in primary care antibiotic prescribing in England 1994-1998

Purpose To investigate the changing decisions to prescribe antibiotics as m anifest in the patterns of prescriptions dispensed in England, and to inves tigate antibiotic prescribing in different types of practice. Methods Antibiotic prescribing data and practice characteristics collected for every practice in England for the years 1994/5-1997/8. Morbidity data f or common infections was also obtained from published sources. Results Antibiotic prescribing was related to practice characteristics, wit h high prescribing in deprived and single-handed practices in particular. T here was a fall in antibiotic prescribing in all types of practice of pract ice over the period of the study. Morbidity data from other sources shows a fall in diagnosed morbidity from some infectious diseases over the same pe riod. There were no differences in choice of antibiotic in different types of practice. Conclusions The fall in antibiotic prescribing is universal across all kind s of practices and is possibly related to the fall in diagnoses. It is unce rtain whether this reflects true morbidity. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.