Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions — United States, 2012

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Healthcare providers prescribed 272.3 million antibiotic prescriptions—equivalent to 867 antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons.

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Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outpatient antibiotic prescriptions — United States, 2012.

Table 1. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex—United States, 2012.

Table 1a. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex—United States, 2012.
Age group NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
<20 yearsa 70.8 858
≥20 yearsa 191.9 851
Table 1b. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex—United States, 2012.
Sex NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS)> ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Femalea 164.7 1,032
Malea 106.5 689
Table 1c. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex—United States, 2012.
Region NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS)> ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Northeasta 49.5 886
Midwesta 61.3 910
Southa 114.4 975
Westa 47.1 640

aTotals may not add to all oral prescriptions (272.3 million) due to missing data

Table 2. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents prescribed—United States, 2012.

Table 2a. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents prescribed—United States, 2012.
ANTIBIOTIC CLASS NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Penicillins 59.6 190
Macrolides 57.1 182
Cephalosporins 36.2 115
Quinolones 32.7 104
Beta-lactams, increased activity 21.8 69
Tetracycline 21.8 69
Table 2b. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents prescribed—United States, 2012.
ANTIBIOTIC AGENT NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Azithromycin 53.0 169
Amoxicillin 51.9 165
Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 21.8 69
Ciprofloxacin 21.4 68
Trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole 20.9 67

Table 3. Oral antibiotic prescribing by provider specialty — United States, 2012

Table 3. Oral antibiotic prescribing by provider specialty — United States, 2012
PROVIDER SPECIALTY NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER PROVIDER, RATE
Primary Care Physicians 129.0 543
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners 43.2 249
Dentistry 23.4 191
Surgical Specialties 20.5 230
Emergency Medicine 15.0 462
Dermatology 8.1 719
Obstetrics/Gynecology 7.0 18
Other 26.0 125
All Providers 272.3 299
Data Sources:

Systemic oral antibiotics were extracted from the IMS Health Xponent database. IMS Health captures >70% of outpatient prescriptions nationally, reconciles them to wholesale deliveries, and projects to 100% coverage. These data represent all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions from community pharmacies and non-governmental mail order pharmacies from all payers, but exclude federal facilities. Provider specialties are taken from the American Medical Association (AMA) self-designated practice specialties and categorized into one of 17 groups. Population data were obtained from the U.S. Census bridging files.

References

  1. Hicks, L.A., et al., US Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing Variation According to Geography, Patient Population, and Provider Specialty in 2011. Clin Infect Dis, 2015. 60(9): p. 1308-16.
  2. IMS. The Uniform System of Classification (USC)pdf iconexternal icon. [cited2015 September 22]

Figure 1. Antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons by state (sextiles) for all ages — United States, 2012.

Antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons by state (sextiles) for all ages US 2012 Wa,Or,Ca, Co, NM, Vt =588 - 715 | Mt,Id,Wy,Nv, Mn, Wi, Me, NH, Fl = 724 - 779 | Ut, Az, Ma, Ri, Ct, GA = 812 - 882 | Tx, Ok, SD, Ia, Il, NY, NJ = 908 - 941 | Oh, Mi, Mo, Ks, Ne , ND = 963 - 1,024 | La, Ms, Al, Tn, Ky, WV, In = 1,049 - 1,338

This project was made possible through a partnership with the CDC Foundation. Support for this project was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons by state (sextiles) for all ages — United States, 2012.
State Number of prescriptions per 1000 persons, Rate
Alabama        1,207
Alaska            563
Arizona            779
Arkansas        1,125
California            588
Colorado            643
Connecticut            879
Delaware            998
District Of Columbia        1,064
Florida            749
Georgia            895
Hawaii            681
Idaho            728
Illinois            889
Indiana        1,006
Iowa        1,018
Kansas        1,022
Kentucky        1,300
Louisiana        1,205
Maine            765
Maryland            841
Massachusetts            824
Michigan            894
Minnesota            710
Mississippi        1,250
Missouri            965
Montana            717
Nebraska        1,049
Nevada            723
New Hampshire            741
New Jersey            944
New Mexico            707
New York            913
North Carolina            950
North Dakota            964
Ohio            938
Oklahoma            992
Oregon            600
Pennsylvania            869
Rhode Island            960
South Carolina            992
South Dakota            964
Tennessee        1,249
Texas            957
Utah            838
Vermont            703
Virginia            869
Washington            633
West Virginia        1,338
Wisconsin            776
Wyoming            807
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Page last reviewed: September 12, 2017
Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP)