Use of group based trajectory modelling to identify groups based on trajectories obtained for overall number of antibiotics prescription to children age 0-3 years in Norway during year 2004 to 2017

Abstract

Bacterial infection occur frequently in children. In 2015 more than 900,000 children below 5 years were killed due to respiratory tract infections (RTIs). Early life onset and prolonged use of antibiotics in children can leads to health complications later in life. Antibiotics prescribing in young children is affected by many factors and identifying these factors can provide an opportunity to develop strategies for better prescribing. The purpose of this study was to identify groups of children based on the trajectories obtained by total number of prescriptions collected during first three years of life using GBTM. Data on redeemed antibiotic prescriptions was obtained from NorPD for all children 0-3 years born in Norway from 2004 to 2017. Those without a personal identifier number and less than two prescriptions were excluded. Our results do not suggest marked differences among children born in birth seasons and the association to the trajectories showing proportion of antibiotics prescription collected. There was considerable difference in the group sizes and proportion of children in the trajectories obtained for prescription based by birth season. However, winter was the duration when collection of antibiotics prescription was highest among children.