Background Antibiotics require more prudent prescribing, dispensing and administration than other medicines because these medicines are at a greater risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Studying the current medicine use practices and factors affecting the prescribing of an antibiotic would help decision makers to draft policies that would enable a more rational use of medicines. Methods A prospective, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the current prescribing practices including antibiotics use in six community pharmacies in Asmara. A total of 600 encounters were reviewed using the WHO core prescribing indicators between May 5 and May 12, 2019 using stratified random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were employed using IBM SPSS® (version 22). Results The average number of medicines per prescription was 1.76 and 83.14% of the medicines were prescribed using generic names while 98.39% of the medicines were from the National Essential Medicines List (NEML). The percentage of prescriptions containing antibiotics was 53%. The number of encounters containing injections was 7.8%. Patient age, gender and number of medicines prescribed were significantly associated with antibiotic prescribing at bivariate and multivariable models. Subjects under the age of 15 were approximately three times more likely to be prescribed antibiotic compared to subjects whose age is 65 and above (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 2.93, 95%CI: 1.71-5). Similarly, males were more likely to be prescribed antibiotic than females (AOR: 1.57, 95%CI: 1.10-2.24). Subjects to whom three to four medicines prescribed were two times more likely to be prescribed an antibiotic compared to those who were to be prescribed one to two medicines per encounter (AOR: 2.17, 95%CI: 1.35-3.5). A one-unit increase in the number of medicines increased the odds of antibiotic prescribing increased by 2.02 units (COR: 2.02; 95%CI: 1.62-2.52). Conclusions This study found that the percentage of antibiotics being prescribed at the community pharmacies in Asmara was 53% which deviated significantly from the WHO recommended values (20-26.8%). Furthermore, the percentage of encounters with an injection was 7.8% lower than the WHO value of 13.4-24.0%. Patients' age, gender and number of medicines were significantly associated with antibiotic prescribing.

中文翻译：

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在厄立特里亚阿斯马拉的六个社区药房中使用WHO处方指标和与抗生素处方相关的因素进行处方实践：一项横断面研究。

背景技术与其他药物相比，抗生素需要更谨慎的处方，分配和给药方式，因为这些药物具有更大的抗药性（AMR）风险。研究当前的药物使用实践和影响抗生素处方的因素，将有助于决策者起草政策，使人们能够更合理地使用药物。方法进行了一项前瞻性，描述性和横断面研究，以评估当前的处方实践，包括在阿斯马拉的六个社区药房使用抗生素的情况。在2019年5月5日至12月12日期间，采用WHO核心处方指标，采用分层随机抽样技术对600次s诊进行了回顾。使用描述性统计和逻辑回归使用IBMSPSS®（版本22）。结果每个处方的平均药物数量为1.76，其中83.14％的药物使用通用名，而98.39％的药物来自国家基本药物目录（NEML）。含有抗生素的处方比例为53％。包含注射的相遇次数为7.8％。在双变量和多变量模型中，患者的年龄，性别和所开药物的数量与抗生素处方显着相关。与年龄在65岁及以上的受试者相比，未满15岁的受试者服用抗生素的可能性大约高出三倍（调整后的赔率（AOR）：2.93，95％CI：1.71-5）。同样，男性比女性更有可能开抗生素处方（AOR：1.57，95％CI：1.10-2.24）。与每次处方一到两种药物的受试者相比，接受三到四种药物的受试者使用抗生素的可能性要高出两倍（AOR：2.17，95％CI：1.35-3.5）。药物数量增加一单位会增加抗生素处方的几率增加2.02单位（COR：2.02； 95％CI：1.62-2.52）。结论该研究发现，阿斯马拉社区药房开出的抗生素百分比为53％，与WHO推荐值（20-26.8％）有显着差异。此外，与注射液的接触百分比比WHO的13.4-24.0％值低7.8％。患者的年龄，性别和药物数量与抗生素处方显着相关。