Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the intra-urban variation of antibiotic utilization in children in Malmö and to evaluate the influence of socio-economic factors on this variation.
Methods: In an ecological analysis, the variations in antibiotic utilization in children, expressed as defined daily dose (DDD) or as the number of prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants per day, were compared with variations in socio-economic and demographic factors in the 17 administrative districts of the Swedish city of Malmö (235000 inhabitants).
Results: There were large between-area differences in antibiotic utilization, especially in children aged 0-6 years. Socio-economic factors reflecting a privileged situation correlated positively with antibiotic utilization. Thus, in districts with a high median family income and a high employment rate, the utilization of antibiotics was higher than in other districts. Conversely, in districts with a high proportion of blue-collar workers, people with foreign backgrounds and recipients of social benefit, antibiotic utilization was comparatively low. In contrast, the utilization of penicillin V relative to other antibiotics showed an opposite pattern, including positive correlations with the proportion of social benefit, immigrants and blue-collar workers and a negative correlation with employment rate. Conversely, the utilization of macrolides in relation to other antibiotics in children aged 0-6 years was highest in districts inhabited by those who were socio-economically privileged.
Interpretation: The findings suggest that utilization of antibiotics in children may vary considerably within a city, that it may increase with the degree of parental affluence, and that such affluence may reduce the utilization of penicillin V relative to other antibiotics.