Childhood respiratory outpatient visits correlate with socioeconomic status and drive geographic patterns in antibiotic prescribing

Reducing geographic disparities in antibiotic prescribing is a central public health priority to combat antibiotic resistance, but the drivers of this variation have been unclear.

Interventions aimed at reducing geographic disparities in antibiotic prescribing should target the drivers of outpatient visits for respiratory illness and should account for possible under-utilization of health services in areas with the lowest antibiotic consumption. Our findings challenge the conventional wisdom that prescribing practices are the main driver of geographic disparities in antibiotic use.