Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions — United States, 2014

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Healthcare providers prescribed 266.1 million antibiotic prescriptions—equivalent to 835 antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons.

Print only version: Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions — United States, 2014 pdf icon[PDF – 338 KB]

Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outpatient antibiotic prescriptions — United States, 2014.

Data Sources:

Systemic oral antibiotics were extracted from the IMS Health (now called QuintilesIMS) 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]

Table 1. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex and region—United States, 2014.

Table 1a. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex and region—United States, 2014.
Age groupa NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
<20 years 63.9 778
≥20 years 198.3 838
Table 1b. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex and region—United States, 2014.
Sexa NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Female 161.7 999
Male 103.4 659
Table 1c. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age and sex and region—United States, 2014.
Regionb NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Northeast 48.6 866
Midwest 60.8 897
South 110.5 923
West 46.3 615

a Totals may not add to all oral prescriptions (266.1 million) due to missing data.
b Totals may not add to all oral prescriptions (266.1 million) due to rounding.

Table 2. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents prescribed—United States, 2014.

Table 2a. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents prescribed—United States, 2014.
ANTIBIOTIC CLASS NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Penicillins 60.7 191
Macrolides 49.0 154
Cephalosporins 35.7 112
Fluoroquinolones 32.8 103
Beta-lactams, increased activity 23.5 74
Table 2b. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents prescribed—United States, 2014.
ANTIBIOTIC AGENT NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Amoxicillin 53.6 168
Azithromycin 45.7 143
Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 23.5 74
Cephalexin 21.3 67
Ciprofloxacin 20.8 65

Table 3. Oral antibiotic prescribing by provider specialty — United States, 2014.

Table 3. Oral antibiotic prescribing by provider specialty — United States, 2014.
PROVIDER SPECIALTY NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER PROVIDER, RATE
Primary Care Physicians 114.7 483
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners 54.4 314
Dentistry 24.9 203
Surgical Specialties 19.9 223
Emergency Medicine 14.2 440
Dermatology 7.6 669
Obstetrics/Gynecology 6.6 175
Other 23.8 114
All Providers 266.1 292

Figure 1. Antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons by state (sextiles) for all ages — United States, 2014.

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, 2014.
State Number of prescriptions per 1000 persons, Rate
Alabama        1,123
Alaska            501
Arizona            740
Arkansas        1,155
California            570
Colorado            624
Connecticut            847
Delaware            938
District Of Columbia        1,021
Florida            728
Georgia            840
Hawaii            643
Idaho            692
Illinois            852
Indiana            950
Iowa        1,000
Kansas            992
Kentucky        1,262
Louisiana        1,177
Maine            720
Maryland            796
Massachusetts            768
Michigan            925
Minnesota            710
Mississippi        1,222
Missouri            936
Montana            648
Nebraska        1,045
Nevada            709
New Hampshire            701
New Jersey            902
New Mexico            714
New York            899
North Carolina            861
North Dakota            853
Ohio            964
Oklahoma            965
Oregon            570
Pennsylvania            885
Rhode Island            892
South Carolina            927
South Dakota            901
Tennessee        1,162
Texas            899
Utah            783
Vermont            638
Virginia            799
Washington            600
West Virginia        1,285
Wisconsin            744
Wyoming            777
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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)