@article {Rutschmann196, author = {Olivier T. Rutschmann and Marisa Elena Domino}, title = {Antibiotics for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Ambulatory Practice in the United States, 1997{\textendash}1999: Does Physician Specialty Matter?}, volume = {17}, number = {3}, pages = {196--200}, year = {2004}, doi = {10.3122/jabfm.17.3.196}, publisher = {The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine}, abstract = {Background: The dangers of overuse of antibiotics for upper respiratory infections (URIs) has been widely recognized, but the rate of change in prescribing patterns in recent years is unknown.Methods: Data on the use of antibiotics for URIs was extracted from the 1997 to 1999 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (a national multistage probability sample survey of patients{\textquoteright} office visits to office-based physicians). Adult patients (>=18 years) with a primary diagnosis of URI (bronchitis, common colds, and other acute upper respiratory infections) were included. The decision to prescribe antibiotics was modeled as a function of patient, physician, and practice characteristics using logistic regression.Results: The rate of antibiotic prescription for URIs decreased from 52.1\% in 1997 to 41.5\% in 1999. In a multivariate logistic regression model, treatment by general internal medicine physicians [odds ratio (OR), 0.37; 95\% confidence interval (CI), 0.18 to 0.76] was associated with lower prescription rates. Of patients visiting general internal medicine physicians for URIs, 36.2\% received antibiotics compared with 42.9\% of those seeing a general/family medicine physician. Patients treated by their primary care physicians had a higher risk of receiving antibiotics (OR, 1.70; 95\% CI, 1.08 to 2.68).Conclusions: Despite a downward trend in antibiotic prescribing over the years, overprescription of antibiotics for upper respiratory infections persists. General internal medicine physicians are less likely than general/family physicians to prescribe antibiotics, but this gap seems to be narrowing. Specific interventions must be designed to address these disparities.}, issn = {1557-2625}, URL = {https://www.jabfm.org/content/17/3/196}, eprint = {https://www.jabfm.org/content/17/3/196.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine} }