[Use of antibiotics, in a pediatric hospital, for respiratory infection and diarrheal disease].

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) reports an increasing unjustified use of antibiotics in the treatment of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) and Acute Diarrheal Diseases (ADD) in children under five years of age. This has generated problems such as polypharmacy and the inappropriate use of antibiotics; characterized by incorrect dosage, use in viral infections, prescription inconsistent with clinical guidelines.

Objective: To analyze the prescription of antibiotics, their diagnostic-therapeutic congruence, as well as the correct filling of the medical prescription, in a tertiary level hospital in Mexico.

Material and methods: Observational, descriptive cross-sectional study. The electronic medical prescriptions made during the period January-December 2017 with a clinical diagnosis of ARI and EDA were analyzed.

Results: Of a total of 21,446 boys and girls under five years of age, 10,233 prescriptions were issued for the treatment of ARI and ADD diagnoses. 80% of the prescriptions complied with the items indicated in the electronic file.

Conclusions: The prescription of antibiotics showed a prudent use of antibiotics both in the management of acute diarrheal diseases and in the management of acute respiratory diseases. Diagnostic-therapeutic congruence was found in most of the cases in the prescriptions analyzed.