Objectives: To examine the relationship between ambulatory antibiotic prescribing for acute bronchitis and cough with hospital admissions for respiratory infections in the USA between 1996 and 2003.
Design: Analysis of data on antibiotic prescribing for episodes of acute bronchitis/cough illness in ambulatory care and hospitalization for respiratory infections for adults between 1996 and 2003 in the USA.
Setting: USA: ambulatory prescribing behaviour was derived from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey while hospitalizations in acute care hospitals were assessed in the National Hospital Discharge Survey.
Participants: Adults 18-64 years old.
Interventions: None.
Main outcome measures: Proportion of visits for acute bronchitis/cough receiving a prescription for antibiotics and hospitalization for respiratory infections.
Results: Ambulatory antibiotic prescribing practices for acute bronchitis/cough and hospitalizations for respiratory infections exhibited non-linear patterns over the 8 year period. However, antibiotic prescribing practices for acute bronchitis/cough and hospitalizations for respiratory infections had a weak/moderate negative association. For three of the seven yearly changes in prescribing and hospitalizations as one increased the other decreased (P<0.01).
Conclusions: Ambulatory antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections was inversely associated with hospital admissions for respiratory tract infections.