Prescription Antibiotic Use among the US population 1999-2018: National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys

Antibiotic resistance has been identified as a public health threat both in the United States and globally. The United States published the “National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistance” in 2014, which included goals to reduce inappropriate outpatient antibiotic use.

This cross-sectional study was conducted using National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) years 1999-2018. Weighted prevalence of past 30-day non-topical outpatient antibiotic use was calculated, as well as the change in prevalence from 1999-02 to 2015-18 and 2007-10 to 2015-18, both overall and for subgroups. Associations with past 30-day non-topical outpatient antibiotic use in 2015-18 were examined using predictive margins calculated by multivariable logistic regression.

While there were declines in antibiotic use from 1999-02 to 2015-18, there were no observed declines during the last decade.