Fewer US doctors are prescribing antibiotics to children and teens than in 1990, likely due to efforts to curb the alarming rise in infections that are resistant to antibiotics, according to researchers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia found that doctors offered only 30 million prescriptions for antibiotics during office visits in the years 1999-2000 to children younger than 15, a marked decrease from the 45 million prescriptions written between 1989 and 1990.

The decrease occurred despite the fact that children had just as many office visits during the later years as they did in 1989 and 1990, the authors note in the June 19th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

McCaig told Reuters Health she believes the dip in antibiotic prescribing stems from an increased awareness that giving unneeded antibiotics helps propagate the bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, putting the entire population at risk.

"The most likely explanations (for the decline) are media attention to the problem of antibiotic resistance and the efforts of many organizations, which during the 1990s joined forces to educate physicians and parents about appropriate antibiotic use," she said.

McCaig and her team base their findings on surveys of between 2,500 and 3,500 physicians conducted from 1989 to 1990, and then later from 1999 to 2000. The physicians reported on their distribution of antibiotics in up to 13,600 office visits with patients younger than 15.

JAMA June 19, 2002;287:3096-3102, 3103-3109, 3133-3135 (Full Text Article)