Infectious disease reports
Prescription-Duration Patterns of Outpatient Macrolide Use in Participating Community Pharmacies in Tokyo, Japan: A 24-Month Repeated Cross-Sectional Study
By Kishino Y, Fukuda Y, Kiyokawa S and 1 others.
Abstract
Background
Macrolides are classified in the Watch group of the World Health Organization Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification and are prescribed for both acute infections and chronic respiratory diseases. Aggregate antimicrobial use indicators do not distinguish short- from extended-duration prescribing. This study characterized outpatient macrolide prescription-duration patterns using community pharmacy dispensing data.
Methods
A retrospective observational study comprising repeated cross-sectional analyses at the drug prescription-record level and a secondary patient-level longitudinal analysis was conducted using anonymized dispensing data from participating community pharmacies in Tokyo, Japan, collected between April 2023 and March 2025. Prescription durations were classified as 1-14, 15-28, 29-89, and ≥90 days. The primary outcome was a prescription duration of ≥29 days, corresponding to the Japanese dispensing-fee classification during the study period. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate associations with extended-duration prescription records.