TABLE 2

Number of individuals who filled at least one antibiotic prescription by asthma diagnosis, age group and sex (N=1 174 424)

Antibiotic prescriptions by age group and sexIndividuals that filled ≥1 antibiotic prescriptionStandardised difference
Asthma cases#Nonasthma controls#
All antibiotics
 All179 937 (30.6%)135 697 (23.1%)0.171
 5–9 years old43 675 (37.9%)31 216 (27.1%)0.232
 10–14 years old39 210 (26.5%)27 949 (18.9%)0.183
 15–19 years old53 901 (31.5%)41 876 (24.4%)0.157
 20–24 years old43 151 (28.2%)34 656 (22.7%)0.128
 Female84 318 (34.6%)63 526 (26.0%)0.186
 Male95 619 (27.9%)72 171 (21.0%)0.159
Antibiotics commonly prescribed for respiratory infections
 All155 210 (26.4%)114 540 (19.5%)0.165
 5–9 years old40 947 (35.5%)28 939 (25.1%)0.228
 10–14 years old34 492 (23.3%)23 967 (16.2%)0.180
 15–19 years old44 706 (26.1%)33 841 (19.7%)0.151
 20–24 years old35 065 (22.9%)27 793 (18.2%)0.118
 Female72 982 (29.9%)53 868 (22.1%)0.179
 Male82 228 (24.0%)60 672 (17.7%)0.155
Cephalosporins
 All14 234 (2.4%)9147 (1.6%)0.062
 5–9 years old4856 (4.2%)2992 (2.6%)0.089
 10–14 years old3339 (2.3%)2010 (1.4%)0.068
 15–19 years old3388 (2.0%)2276 (1.3%)0.051
 20–24 years old2651 (1.7%)1869 (1.2%)0.042
 Female6759 (2.8%)4420 (1.8%)0.064
 Male7475 (2.2%)4727 (1.4%)0.061
Macrolides
 All54 382 (9.3%)34 654 (5.9%)0.127
 5–9 years old11 665 (10.1%)6820 (5.9%)0.155
 10–14 years old12 243 (8.3%)7207 (4.9%)0.138
 15–19 years old16 390 (9.6%)10 687 (6.2%)0.124
 20–24 years old14 084 (9.2%)9940 (6.5%)0.101
 Female25 753 (10.6%)16 372 (6.7%)0.137
 Male28 629 (8.3%)18 282 (5.3%)0.120
Penicillins
 All109 922 (18.7%)84 606 (14.4%)0.116
 5–9 years old31 817 (27.6%)23 133 (20.1%)0.178
 10–14 years old23 673 (16.0%)17 297 (11.7%)0.125
 15–19 years old31 258 (18.2%)24 853 (14.5%)0.101
 20–24 years old23 174 (15.2%)19 323 (12.6%)0.073
 Female52 033 (21.3%)40 063 (16.4%)0.126
 Male57 889 (16.9%)44 645 (13.0%)0.109

#: n=587 212; : standardised difference >0.1 generally considered different (shown in bold).