Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions — United States, 2016

Healthcare providers prescribed 270.2 million antibiotic prescriptions—equivalent to 836 antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons.

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Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outpatient antibiotic prescriptions — United States, 2016.

Data Sources:

Systemic oral antibiotics were extracted from the IQVIA Xponent database. IQVIA captured an estimated 90% of outpatient prescriptions for any medication nationally, reconciled them to wholesale deliveries, and projected to 100% coverage. These data represent all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions from community 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

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.

Table 1. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age, sex and region—United States, 2016

Age groupa

For each age group, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Characteristics NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
<20 years 64.9 790
≥20 years 205.4 852

Sexa

For each sex, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Characteristics NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Female 164.6 1,003
Male 105.5 663

Regionb

For each region, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Characteristics NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Northeast 48.8 868
Midwest 60.2 887
South 114.5 937
West 46.5 607

aTotals may not add to all oral prescriptions (270.2 million) due to missing data
bTotals may not add to all oral prescriptions (270.2 million) due to rounding.


Table 2. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents prescribed—United States, 2016

Antibiotic class

For each antibiotic class, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Characteristics NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Penicillins 63.2 196
Macrolides 47.7 148
Cephalosporins 36.9 114
Fluoroquinolones 29.7 92
Beta-lactams, increased activity 26.4 82

Antibiotic agent

For each antibiotic agent, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Characteristics NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Amoxicillin 56.7 176
Azithromycin 44.9 139
Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 26.4 82
Cephalexin 21.8 68
Sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim 20 62

Table 3. Oral antibiotic prescribing by provider specialty — United States, 2016

For each provider specialty, number of prescriptions and rate per provider
PROVIDER SPECIALTY NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER PROVIDER, RATE
Primary Care Physicians 106.3 448
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners 68.4 395
Surgical Specialties 19.3 217
Dentistry 25.7 210
Emergency Medicine 14.7 454
Dermatology 6.9 608
Obstetrics/Gynecology 6.0 160
Other 22.9 110
All Providers 270.2 296

Figure 1. Antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons by state (sextiles) for all ages — United States, 2016.

Community-antibiotic-map-2016

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, 2016.
State Number of prescriptions per 1000 persons, Rate
Kentucky 1,270
West Virginia 1,257
Mississippi 1,235
Louisiana 1,193
Alabama 1,188
Tennessee 1,169
Arkansas 1,131
Nebraska 1,040
Iowa 997
Kansas 964
Indiana 963
Ohio 963
South Carolina 957
District of Columbia 936
Delaware 929
Missouri 924
Oklahoma 911
New Jersey 911
New York 905
South Dakota 900
Michigan 899
Georgia 898
Pennsylvania 895
Rhode Island 885
North Carolina 856
Florida 855
Texas 852
Illinois 844
Connecticut 841
North Dakota 797
Virginia 790
Maryland 784
Utah 753
Massachusetts 751
Arizona 744
Wyoming 744
Wisconsin 733
Nevada 721
New Hampshire 716
Maine 707
New Mexico 704
Idaho 689
Minnesota 687
Vermont 640
Montana 631
Hawaii 615
Colorado 585
Washington 580
California 567
Oregon 547
Alaska 511