Use of antibiotics in general practice in Denmark. Prescribed daily dose, duration of treatment and number of treatments in general practice.

Prescribed daily dose (PDD) and duration of treatment is estimated for the most commonly used antibiotics in a multipractice study. In 1979 574 general practitioners and in 1983 625 general practitioners recorded 7 681 respectively 8 182 prescriptions of antibiotics over a five-day period. PDD and the number of treatments were compared with Defined Daily Dose (DDD) and DDD/1 000 inhabitants/day from the official statistics of drug consumption. It was found that these commonly used units were rather misleading with regard to the daily dose actually prescribed and the number of treatments given in a certain period.