TY - JOUR T1 - Antibiotic Prescription in Febrile Children: A Cohort Study during Out-of-Hours Primary Care JF - The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine JO - J Am Board Fam Med SP - 810 LP - 818 DO - 10.3122/jabfm.2012.06.110310 VL - 25 IS - 6 AU - Gijs Elshout AU - Marijke Kool AU - Johannes C. Van der Wouden AU - Henriëtte A. Moll AU - Bart W. Koes AU - Marjolein Y. Berger Y1 - 2012/11/01 UR - http://www.jabfm.org/content/25/6/810.abstract N2 - Background: Fever is common in children and often self-limiting, nevertheless antibiotics are frequently prescribed. We determined how often antibiotics were prescribed in children presenting with fever at a family physicians' out-of-hours service and established the children's signs and symptoms related to antibiotic prescriptions. Patients: Children aged 3 months to 6 years with fever as the main reason for contact. Results: Of the 443 included children, 322 children had a face-to-face contact at the out-of-hours service. Of these, 117 (36.3%) were prescribed antibiotics, that is, 26.5% of the total study population. Concerned parents (OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.06–3.58), ill appearance (3.26; 1.30–8.20), earache resulting in altered behavioral or sleeping patterns (2.59; 1.06–6.30), signs of throat infection (2.37; 1.35–4.15), and decreased urine production (2.00; 1.17–3.41) were positively associated with antibiotic prescription. A negative association was found for age 3 to 6 months (0.17; 0.03–0.74) and temperature (0.52; 0.37–0.71). Conclusions: Antibiotics were prescribed in 1 out of 4 febrile children whose parents contacted the out-of-hours service. Items associated with antibiotic prescription provide insight into the family physicians' decision-making process when assessing children with fever. These can be used as targets for strategies to diminish antibiotic prescription. ER -