Respiratory tract infections in children in primary healthcare in Poland

Abstract

Respiratory tract infections are the most common diseases in children. The aim of the study was to assess their frequency and antibiotic treatment in Poland. We retrospectively analyzed 91 randomly-selected children aged 0–17 years receiving care from birth in a large primary healthcare establishment in the city of Wroclaw in Poland. Respiratory tract infections were responsible for 25–40 % of all primary healthcare visits. The median of visits due to upper respiratory tract infections was 1.8 per year in all children and 2.0 per year in children 0–3 years old. Antibiotics were overused; the majority (57.4 %) of the respiratory infections were treated with antibiotics: acute tonsillitis in 90.7 %, bronchitis in 67.5 %, otitis media in 65.9 %, pneumonia in 60.9 %, non-specific upper respiratory tract infections in 25.8 %, laryngitis in 22.2 %, and sinusitis in 12.5 %. The higher the number of antibiotic therapies, the higher the total number of visits including visits due to respiratory tract infections. In conclusion, implementation of careful and responsible management of a rational use of antibiotics is urgently needed since a reduction in their use may lead to a decrease in the number of visits due to upper respiratory tract infections and a total number of primary care visits.