Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions — United States, 2022

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Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outpatient antibiotic prescriptions — United States, 2022.

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. Healthcare provider specialties are based on the American Medical Association (AMA) self-designated practice specialties, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and National Provider Identifier (NPI) sources and categorized into one of 17 groups. Provider specialty denominators are estimated by extracting the total number of providers in each provider specialty from the IQVIA Xponent® prescription database. Antibiotic prescription rates by provider specialty for 2022 are calculated using provider denominators for 2022 aggregated by IQVIA. Yearly antibiotic prescription rates per 1,000 persons by age, sex, and region are calculated using annual U.S. Census files.

Total outpatient oral antibiotic prescriptions in 2022

 

Healthcare professionals prescribed 236.4 million antibiotic prescriptions—equivalent to 709 antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons.

Table 1. Oral antibiotic prescriptions by age, sex, and regiona,b—United States, 2022

For each age group, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Age group NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
<20 48.5 598
>=20 187.6 744
For each sex, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Sex NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Male 91.3 552
Female 144.9 862
For each region, number of prescriptions and rate per 1,000
Region NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER 1,000 PERSONS, RATE
Northeast 41.1 721
Midwest 49.5 719
South 106.2 825
West 39.5 502

aTotals may not add to all oral prescriptions (236.4 million) due to missing data
bRates calculated using population data obtained from the 2022 U.S. Census.

Table 2. Top oral antibiotic classes and agentsa—United States, 2022

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 53.2 159
Macrolides 36.1 108
Cephalosporins 36.0 108
B-lactams, increased activity 28.7 86
Tetracyclines 27.1 81
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 49.8 149
Azithromycin 34.9 105
Amoxicillin clavulanic acid 28.7 86
Doxycycline 24.1 72
Cephalexin 21.0 63

aRates calculated using population data obtained from the 2022 U.S. Census.

Table 3. Oral antibiotic prescribing by provider specialtya – United States, 2022

 

For each provider specialty, number of prescriptions and rate per provider
PROVIDER SPECIALTY NUMBER OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS (MILLIONS) ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS PER PROVIDER, RATE
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners 84.4 165
Primary Care Physicians 70.0 179
Dentistry 25.2 127
Surgical Specialties 16.4 115
Emergency Medicine 12.0 182
Dermatology 5.4 299
Obstetrics/Gynecology 4.5 81
Other 18.5 27
All Healthcare Professionals 236.4 114

a Rates calculated using provider specialty denominators for 2022 aggregated by IQVIA.

Table 4. Oral antibiotic prescribing by statea – United States, 2022

Antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons by state (sextiles) for all ages — United States, 2011.
State Antibiotic Prescriptions per 1,000 Persons, Rate
Alabama                 1030
Alaska                    403
Arizona                    634
Arkansas                 1,020
California                    470
Colorado                    484
Connecticut                    694
Delaware                    703
District Of Columbia                    748
Florida                    781
Georgia                    802
Hawaii                    474
Idaho                    565
Illinois                    701
Indiana                    782
Iowa                    760
Kansas                    803
Kentucky                 1,053
Louisiana                 1,066
Maine                    571
Maryland                    631
Massachusetts                    621
Michigan                    755
Minnesota                    522
Mississippi                 1,149
Missouri                    731
Montana                   522
Nebraska                    824
Nevada                    619
New Hampshire                    615
New Jersey                    749
New Mexico                    617
New York                    766
North Carolina                    722
North Dakota                    649
Ohio                    798
Oklahoma                    808
Oregon                    435
Pennsylvania                    732
Rhode Island                    697
South Carolina                    820
South Dakota                    722
Tennessee                    967
Texas                    780
Utah                    625
Vermont                    524
Virginia                    682
Washington                    437
West Virginia                 1,184
Wisconsin                    554
Wyoming                    689

a Rates calculated using population data obtained from the 2022 U.S. Census.

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