Antibiotic prescriptions falling across England, but higher in deprived areas
pharmafile | November 12, 2015 | News story | Medical Communications | Antibiotics, prescribing
New data reveals that while antibiotic prescriptions have fallen across England in the last three years, struggling GP practices in the most deprived parts of the country are prescribing 20% more than those in the richest areas.
Research company EXASOL, which boasts the world’s fastest analytic database, found prescriptions per head peaked in 2012 with a total of 3.8 million prescriptions to English patients, but have dropped 5.6% since.
However, there is a widening deprivation gap: the gap between prescriptions in the least and most deprived areas of England is widening and the difference in prescribing between the bottom and top 1% by deprivation is 20%
EXASOL, in combination with Antibiotic Research UK (the world’s first charity created to develop new antibiotics), analysed five-year data from August 2010 to July 2015 released by the Government’s Health and Social Care Information Centre and sourced from the NHS Business Services Authority.
EXASOL says the data “reveals antibiotic prescribing hotspots and interesting correlations against areas of deprivation” as well as seasonal variation in antibiotic prescribing. For instance, in Clacton-on-Sea, the UK’s most deprived area, antibiotic prescribing rates of almost twice the national average were seen.
The data also reveals doctors prescribe 59% more antibiotics in December than they do in August, despite the fact that illnesses treated by antibiotics are not seasonal.
London doctors prescribe 21% fewer antibiotics than the North, and the most deprived coastal towns in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Essex are prescribing the most antibiotics in the country. The data implies that prescriptions of antibiotics may be increasing in such areas.
Sean Jackson, chief marketing officer, EXASOL, comments: “Awareness of antibiotics overuse is critical. With the right data and the right technology, you can turn any problem into a data problem and uncover information to help address it. We worked with Antibiotic Research UK to find information that is useful in their quest to reduce antibiotic use and find new antibiotics in the fight against the superbug. To analyse such enormous data-sets fast, returning answers from the data within seconds, requires the right tool and we hope the findings help to further reduce this serious issue.”
He continues: “When analysing the data we are seeing a widening deprivation gap in antibiotic prescriptions. The gap between prescriptions in the 1% least and most deprived areas of England is 20%. We also see significant regional differences, for example London prescriptions are 21% lower than areas in the North.”
Professor Colin Garner, chief executive of Antibiotic Research UK, says: “Londoners and the Thames Valley region have the best access to healthcare and are also on average younger and healthier than the rest of the country. However, we would not expect to see such a large variation in prescriptions around the country. If we look at the detailed heat map it shows hotspots of antibiotic prescription, more generally around areas of deprivation.”
Professor Colin Garner, of Antibiotic Research UK, adds: “It is true that colds and flus sometimes lead to bacterial infections due to suppressed immune systems and so we would expect a minor increase in antibiotic prescription in the winter months, however the data shows us a 59% jump in four months, and this is far too high.
“One explanation is that patients are requesting antibiotics from their GPs for simple coughs and colds and GPs are acceding to these requests despite the advice they have been given not to prescribe antibiotics for this condition.”
An increased resistance by bacteria to antibiotics has the potential to have a major impact on surgery. Operations including hip and knees replacement, organ transplantation, open heart surgery and many cancer treatments will become high risk if the required new antibiotics are not discovered and provided.
It is estimated that there are 400,000 cases of reported antibiotic resistant infections with 25,000 deaths each year in the European Union; in the UK the figure is close to 5,000 deaths per year. According to EXASOL, some 35,000 people die each year from sepsis of which a proportion can be directly linked to infection with antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Joel Levy
Related Content
England’s antibiotic use is down, but antibiotic-resistant infections still spreading, report warns
A new report has revealed that GPs in England are writing fewer prescriptions for antibiotics, …
Drop in prescriptions for antibiotic leads to fewer cases of superbug in Wales
Cuts to the number of prescriptions for antibiotics have led to a drop in the …
Pollen spores could be used to protect potent, ocean-dwelling antibiotics in fighting antibiotic resistant superbugs
Spores from a plant called the common club moss (Lycopodium clavatum) could be used to …
