Patients' responses to delayed antibiotic prescription for acute upper respiratory tract infections

Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) account for approximately 50% of antibiotic prescriptions in the United Kingdom. General practitioners (GPs) frequently issue such prescriptions simply because they believe that the patient expects it. Deferred prescribing (issuing a prescription, but with instructions to wait for no spontaneous improvement before deciding whether to use it) might address patients' expectations, while minimising actual antibiotic consumption. Although the technique is quite widely practiced, patients' attitudes and responses to it are unclear.

To establish the proportion of recipients who claim to consume their delayed antibiotic prescriptions. To elicit factors associated with patients' decisions to consume their antibiotics, and patients' confidence in taking this decision.

Postal questionnaire survey.

Patients from 13 group practices in the south of England.

Patients who had received a delayed antibiotic prescription for URTI from their GP were posted a questionnaire 2 days after their consultation.

Three hundred and seventy-four subjects were recruited of whom 256 (68.4%) returned their questionnaires. Just over half (53.1%) of the responders claimed to have consumed their antibiotics. The majority of patients (87.1%) were confident about taking the decision as to whether to use their antibiotics, and 92.5% would choose to receive a delayed prescription again. Subjects were more likely to take their antibiotics if their presenting symptoms included a fever or sinus pain.

Most patients are confident in making the decision about whether or not to take their antibiotics when receiving a delayed prescription for URTIs. Antibiotic consumption is associated with presenting symptoms, and this has implications for future practice.