Research Activities #297, May 2005

who were given an antibiotic specifically to treat otitis media, a commonly diagnosed ear condition, declined from 14.4 percent in 1996 to 11.5 percent in 2001, according to new data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The data also show declines in both the percentage of children reported to have otitis media and the percentage of children whose parents sought treatment for the condition. The data, from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, suggest that campaigns launched in the mid-1990s to reduce the overuse of antibiotics and prevent antibiotic-resistant infection may have been effective. The campaigns, which were conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others, alerted parents and clinicians to the potential dangers of overuse of antibiotics and promoted appropriate use of these medications. The majority of antibiotics prescribed for children in the United States are for respiratory tract infections; treatment for otitis media accounts for about one-third of all antibiotics purchased for children. Respiratory tract infections may be caused either by bacteria that can be treated effectively with antibiotics or by a virus for which antibiotics are not effective. The data also show that between 1996 and 2001, the percentage of children in the United States aged 14 and under who used an antibiotic for any reason during a given year declined from 39 percent to 29 percent. In addition, the average number of antibiotic prescriptions used by all children aged 14 and under during this period declined from 0.9 per child to 0.5 per child. MEPS researchers also looked at trends in antibiotic use for children of different ages, races and ethnicities, household income, insurance status, health status, and geographic location. The data show that during the period 1996-2001, each subgroup of children experienced a Research Activities