Delayed Antibiotic Therapy in General Practice

Introduction In 2019, France was the 4th highest consumer of antibiotics in Europe. Among the interventions proposed to reduce antibiotic prescribing, delayed prescribing deserves particular attention. The effectiveness of delayed antibiotic prescription in reducing antibiotic consumption remains poorly studied in the literature, and no study has yet been conducted in France. The main objective of our study is to investigate the factors associated with the choice of antibiotic strategy(immediate or deferred). The secondary objectives are to study the frequency and factors associated with antibiotic consumption according to the initial prescription, and to determine the typical profiles of patients, in the context of a delayed prescription, who consume the antibiotic outside the GP's recommendations. Method More 330 general practitioners in France will recruit 2800 patients older than 6 months with acute otitis media between September 2022 and April 2023. GPs will be recruited via the CNGE investigator network, the colleges of general medicine in Ile-de-France, the Sentinelles network, the French Medical Association and the regional unions of health professionals. Initial medical data will be collected by the physicians. Patients will fill in daily data for 2 weeks to monitor their disease. They will also fill in social data, and questionnaires assessing their level of health literacy, confidence and satisfaction with the general practitioner consulted. Factors associated with the physician's choice of antibiotic therapy and the patients' consumption of antibiotics will be analyzed via mixed models. Consumption rates will be expressed as percentages with their confidence intervals. Conclusion This work will allow a better understanding of the elements that guide physicians towards delayed prescription. It can help physicians to better assess patients who are likely to be non-compliant with delayed prescription in order to avoid this type of prescription for them.