Antibiotic use in children and the use of medicines by parents

OBJECTIVE: Antibiotic drugs are frequently used for viral infections in children. It is probable that health beliefs and parental concern have great influence on the use of drugs in children. This study, performed in The Netherlands, investigates whether the use of antibiotics in children is associated with the use of medicines by parents. DESIGN: Observational cohort study, using a prescription database. METHODS: We selected 6,731 children from the prescription database IADB.nl, who did not receive antibiotics until their fifth birthday, and 1,479 children who received at least one antibiotic prescription in every year. The parents for each group of children were identified and we compared the use of antibiotics and other medicines between the two groups of parents. RESULTS: Parents of children who received antibiotics recurrently were found to use more antibiotics themselves than parents of children who did not receive antibiotics. Moreover, this group showed a higher percentage of chronic medication use: 11.3% versus 6.2% (mothers) and 13.1% versus 9.5% (fathers). Mothers more often used antacids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), analgesics, anxiolytics, hypnotics, antidepressants, asthma drugs and antihistamines. Fathers used more antacids, cardiovascular drugs, NSAIDs and asthma drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The parents of children who receive antibiotic drugs regularly use more medicines than the parents of children who use no antibiotic drugs. Parents' medicine use may influence that of children and is a factor physicians and pharmacists should take into account