_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2018 Apr 15; 6(4):719-722. 719 ID Design Press, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2018 Apr 15; 6(4):719-722. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2018.150 eISSN: 1857-9655 Public Health Patterns of Antibiotic Prescription in Children: Tirana, Albania Region Joana Mihani*, Suela Këlliçi Department of Pharmacy in Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania Citation: Mihani J, Këlliçi S. Patterns of Antibiotic Prescription in Children: Tirana, Albania Region. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2018 Apr 15; 6(4):719-722. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2018.150 Keywords: Antibiotics; Children; Prescription; Tirana *Correspondence: Joana Mihani. Department of Pharmacy in Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania. E-mail: joana.mihani@gmail.com Received: 12-Jan-2018; Revised: 01-Mar-2018; Accepted: 06-Mar-2018; Online first: 13-Apr-2018 Copyright: © 2018 Joana Mihani, Suela Këlliçi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) Funding: This research did not receive any financial support Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist Abstract BACKGROUND: Antibiotics (abx) constitute the most prescribed therapeutic agent in the world. There is little data regarding antibiotic consumption by young children in Albania. AIM: This study aims to evaluate antibiotic prescription in children in quantitative and qualitative terms, and therefore, propose recommendations to improve overall clinical outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional drug utilisation study was conducted based on unreimbursed prescriptions collected in 25 pharmacies, randomly selected within the district of Tirana, during the period beginning December 2015 to January 2016. They contain at least one antibacterial therapeutic agent prescribed for children 0-15 years old, for systemic use. The data were analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: A group of 904 prescriptions meet inclusion criteria, 54.1% patient were female, and 45.9% were male. The most exposed age group were 2-6 years old. The most common diagnosis was respiratory tract infections: bronchitis (59.2%), tonsillitis (17%) followed by bronchopneumonia (9.6%). The most prescribed antibiotic classes are Penicillins (33%), Cephalosporins (33.2%) and Macrolides (21,5%). Amoxicillin (19.4%), Azithromycin (14.7%), the combination of Amoxicillin and Clavulanic acid (13.5%) and Cefaclor (11.7%) were the most commonly prescribed. We observed short duration therapies, with a mean duration of 5.21 days and in 17.4 % of cases with a duration of ≤ 2 days. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a large use of broad-spectrum antibiotics for common respiratory tract infection in children less than 6 years old. We would recommend the creation of an electronic database of patient’s record in order to monitor the quality of prescription and education of the healthcare professionals and patient of risks related to antibiotic resistance. Introduction Antibiotics (abx) constitute the most prescribed therapeutic agent in the world [1]. Their use has become prolific worldwide, and the rate of prescriptions grown along with [2] [3]. Preschool children are the primary recipients of this medication. [4]. Differences in antibiotic prescription in quantitative and qualitative terms, caries greatly from region to region, country to country [5]. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics have been proven to be the primary cause of antibiotic resistance in patients [6]. It is estimated that almost 50% of antibiotics prescribed for children by primary care physicians are unnecessary [7]. In the USA, almost three-quarters of all antibiotics are prescribed for acute respiratory infections, and 44% of children with common colds were reported to be treated with antibiotics [8] [9]. In Canada, 74% of preschool children seeking care for respiratory infections received antibiotic prescriptions [10]. Prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics, instead of the narrow spectrum (when appropriate) is also a common type of inappropriate usage [11]. There is little data regarding antibiotic consumption by young children in Albania. This study aims to evaluate antibiotic prescription in children in quantitative and qualitative terms and to, therefore, propose recommendations and counter-measures to improve overall clinical outcomes. Patients and Methods