Journal article
Reducing the demand for antibiotic prescriptions: evidence from an online survey of the general public on the interaction between preferences, beliefs and information, United Kingdom, 2015
- Abstract:
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major public health threat, is strongly associated with human antibiotic consumption. Influenza-like illnesses (ILI) account for substantial inappropriate antibiotic use; patient understanding and expectations probably play an important role. This study investigated what drives patient expectations for antibiotics for ILI; particularly whether AMR-awareness, or risk or time preference, plays a role. In 2015 a representative online panel survey of 2,064 United Kingdom based adults asked respondents about antibiotic usage and effectiveness for ILI. Explanatory variables in multivariable regression included AMR-awareness, risk and time preferences plus covariates. The tendency not to prioritise immediate gain over later reward was independently strongly associated with greater awareness that antibiotics are inappropriate for ILI. Independently, erroneous beliefs and low AMR-awareness significantly predicted reported antibiotic use. However, 272 (39%) of those with low AMR-awareness said the AMR-information we provided would lead them to ask a doctor for antibiotics more often, significantly more than would do so less often, and in contrast to those with high AMR-awareness (p<0.0001). Information campaigns to reduce AMR may risk a paradoxical consequence of actually increasing public demand for antibiotics. Public antibiotic stewardship campaigns should be tested on a small scale before wider adoption.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 224.1KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.25.1700424
Authors
- Publisher:
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- Journal:
- Eurosurveillance More from this journal
- Volume:
- 23
- Issue:
- 25
- Pages:
- =1700424
- Publication date:
- 2018-06-21
- Acceptance date:
- 2018-04-19
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1025-496X
- ISSN:
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1560-7917
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:847697
- UUID:
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uuid:26519d84-e4ca-4c0e-a015-028dcb349a70
- Local pid:
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pubs:847697
- Source identifiers:
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847697
- Deposit date:
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2018-05-14
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Roope et al
- Copyright date:
- 2018
- Notes:
- This article is copyright of the authors, 2018. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Licence. You may share and adapt the material, but must give appropriate credit to the source, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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