The effect of interventions aiming to optimise the prescription of antibiotics in dental care—A systematic review
Abundant evidence in dentistry suggests that antibiotics are prescribed despite the existence of guidelines aiming to reduce the development of antibiotic resistance. This review investigated (1) which type of interventions aiming to optimise prescription of antibiotics exist in dentistry, (2) the e...
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| Published in: | PloS one Vol. 12; no. 11; p. e0188061 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
United States
Public Library of Science
14.11.2017
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| Subjects: | |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203, 1932-6203 |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Abundant evidence in dentistry suggests that antibiotics are prescribed despite the existence of guidelines aiming to reduce the development of antibiotic resistance. This review investigated (1) which type of interventions aiming to optimise prescription of antibiotics exist in dentistry, (2) the effect of these interventions and (3) the specific strengths and limitations of the studies reporting on these interventions.
Literature search was based on Medline, Embase, Global Health, Cochrane CENTRAL, ClinicalTrials.gov and Current Controlled Trials. Studies with one of the two primary outcomes were included: (1) The number of antibiotics prescribed and/or (2) the accuracy of the prescription, commonly measured as a percentage of adherence to local clinical guidelines.
Nine studies met these inclusion criteria. Five studies reported on the prescription of antibiotics in primary dental care and four studies focused on outpatient dental care. Interventions used in primary dental care included a combination of audit, feedback, education, local consensus, dissemination of guidelines and/or academic detailing. Trials in the outpatient setting made use of expert panel discussions, educational feedback on previous acts of prescribing, the dissemination of guidelines and the establishment of internal guidelines. All studies successfully reduced the number of antibiotics prescribed and/or increased the accuracy of the prescription. However, most studies were confounded by a high risk of selection bias, selective outcome reporting and high variance across study groups. In particular, information relating to study design and methodology was insufficient. Only three studies related the prescriptions to the number of patients treated with antibiotics.
This systematic review was able to offer conclusions which took the limitations of the investigated studies into account. Unfortunately, few studies could be included and many of these studies were confounded by a low quality of scientific reporting and lack of information regarding study methodology. High-quality research with objective and standardised outcome reporting, longer periods of follow-up, rigorous methodology and adequate standard of study reporting is urgently needed. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 ObjectType-Review-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Undefined-4 Competing Interests: We have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: We are engaged in an intervention study focusing on optimizing antibiotic prescribing in general dental care. Results of the study are not published yet and are not included in this review. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0188061 |