OBJECTIVE: To evaluate compliance with antibiotic treatment in children and to determine the factors that may be associated with compliance with antibiotic treatment in children not in hospital. DESIGN: Prevalence study. SETTING: La Rioja primary care centres. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: 384 children from 0 to 10, not in hospital, who needed antibiotic treatment between October 1998 and January 1999. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Antibiotic compliance was measured with the Morisky-Green test through a phone survey of the parents ten days after the treatment was prescribed. The number of children who complied satisfactorily with the prescribed treatment was 214 (55.7%; 95% CI, 50.6-60.7). Correct compliance was more common in children with 12-hour rather than 8-hour intervals (OR: 1.87; CI OR, 1.23-2.85), and in children who went to nursery rather than children at school (OR: 1.77; CI OR, 1.08-2.91). CONCLUSIONS: Correct compliance in the study was low. Approximately half the children prescribed an antibiotic treatment at two or three doses a day took it as the paediatrician had indicated.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate compliance with antibiotic treatment in children and to determine the factors that may be associated with compliance with antibiotic treatment in children not in hospital. DESIGN: Prevalence study. SETTING: La Rioja primary care centres. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: 384 children from 0 to 10, not in hospital, who needed antibiotic treatment between October 1998 and January 1999. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Antibiotic compliance was measured with the Morisky-Green test through a phone survey of the parents ten days after the treatment was prescribed. The number of children who complied satisfactorily with the prescribed treatment was 214 (55.7%; 95% CI, 50.6-60.7). Correct compliance was more common in children with 12-hour rather than 8-hour intervals (OR: 1.87; CI OR, 1.23-2.85), and in children who went to nursery rather than children at school (OR: 1.77; CI OR, 1.08-2.91). CONCLUSIONS: Correct compliance in the study was low. Approximately half the children prescribed an antibiotic treatment at two or three doses a day took it as the paediatrician had indicated.