• Sif Binder Larsen, Maria Louise Veimer Jensen, Lars Bjerrum, Volkert Siersma, Christine Winther Bang, and Jette Nygaard Jensen.
• Department of Public Health, Section of General Practice and Research Unit for General Practice, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Eur J Gen Pract. 2021 Dec 1; 27 (1): 257263257-263.

BackgroundTo curb future antibiotic resistance it is important to monitor and investigate current prescription patterns of antibiotics.ObjectivesTo examine trends in antibiotic prescription to children aged 0-6 years old and the association with socioeconomic status of municipalities in the Capital region of Denmark between 2009 and 2018.MethodsThis is a register-based study combining data on antibiotic treatments from 2009 to 2018, inhabitant-data and socioeconomic municipality scores. Subjects were children aged 0-6 years, residing in the Capital Region of Denmark. The study quantifies the use of antibiotics as number of antibiotic treatments/1000 inhabitants/year (TIY), inhabitants defined as children aged 0-6. Socioeconomic status of the municipalities is evaluated by a score from 3 to 12.ResultsThe average TIY of the municipalities decreased from 741.2 [95%CI 689.3-793.2] in 2009 to 348.9 [329.4-368.4] in 2018. The difference between the highest and lowest prescribing municipalities was reduced from 648.3 TIY in 2009-212.5 TIY in 2018. The average increase in TIY per unit increase in socioeconomic municipality score changed from 20.05 [7.69-31.06] in 2009 to -4.58 [-16.02-5.60] in 2018, representing a decreasing association between socioeconomic municipality score and use of antibiotic in the respective municipalities.ConclusionThe trend in antibiotic prescription to children aged 0-6 years old decreased substantially in all the investigated municipalities in the 10-year study period. Local differences in prescription rates declined towards a more uniform prescription pattern across municipalities and association with socioeconomic status of the municipalities was reduced.

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