Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions — United States, 2021

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Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outpatient antibiotic prescriptions — United States, 2021.

Data Sources:

Systemic oral antibiotics were extracted from the IQVIA Xponent database. IQVIA captured an estimated 93% of outpatient prescriptions dispensed from retail pharmacies for any medication nationally, reconciled them to wholesale deliveries to these pharmacies, and projected to 100% coverage. These data represent all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions from community pharmacies from all payers but exclude federal facilities. Specialties are taken from the American Medical Association (AMA) self-designated practice specialties, DEA and NPI sources and categorized into one of 17 groups. Population data were obtained from the U.S. Census files.

Total outpatient oral antibiotic prescriptions in 2021

 

Healthcare professionals prescribed 211.1 million antibiotic prescriptions—equivalent to 636 antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons.

Table 1. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age, sex, and region—United States, 2021

For each age group, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Age groupa NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
<20 37.2 601
>=20 173.7 643
For each sex, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Sexa NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Male 80.7 491
Female 130.1 777
For each region, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Regiona NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Northeast 35.8 627
Midwest 44.3 643
South 96.1 756
West 34.7 441

aTotals may not add to all oral prescriptions (211.1 million) due to missing data

Table 2. Top oral antibiotic classes and agents—United States, 2021

For each antibiotic class, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
ANTIBIOTIC CLASS NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Penicillins 46.4 140
Cephalosporins 31.4 95
Macrolides 29.9 90
Tetracycline 25.0 75
B-lactams, increased activity 22.6 68
For each antibiotic agent, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
ANTIBIOTIC AGENT NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Amoxicillin 42.9 129
Azithromycin 28.7 86
Amoxicillin clavulanic acid 22.6 68
Doxycycline 21.7 65
Cephalexin 20.5 62

Table 3. Oral antibiotic prescribing by specialty — United States, 2021

 

For each provider specialty, number of prescriptions and rate per provider
SPECIALTY NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL, RATE
Primary Care Physicians 61.2 258
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners 69.8 403
Surgical Specialties 16.3 183
Dentistry 25.5 208
Emergency Medicine 10.7 332
Dermatology 5.7 505
Obstetrics/Gynecology 4.6 122
Other 17.1 82
All Healthcare Professionals 211.1 231

a Total may not add to all oral prescriptions (211.1 million) due to rounding.

Figure 1. Antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons by state (sextiles) for all ages — United States, 2021

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