Determinants of antibiotic prescription in paediatric patients : the case of two hospitals in Maputo, Mozambique

Background. The need for healthcare in paediatric patients is often due to respiratory diseases, acute diarrhoea and viral fever, which suggests a limited need for the use of antibiotics. Objectives. To identify the determinants of antibiotic prescription in hospitalised paediatric patients in Mozambique. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and June 2015. A total of 454 medical prescriptions and clinical records of children aged 0 - 14 years from Hospital Central de Maputo (HCM) and Hospital Geral de Mavalane (HGM) were analysed. Results. Antibiotics were used in 97.6% of the patients, with no significant differences (p>0.05) in the prescription rates of the hospitals. The most commonly used antibiotics were beta-lactams (57.3%), aminoglycosides (28.3%) and co-trimoxazole (9.4%). Antibiotics were prescribed in all cases of bronchopneumonia, fever, sepsis and acute gastroenteritis. For malaria and undefined diagnoses, antibiotics were prescribed 97.8% and 99.3% of cases, respectively. It was clear that most severe clinical conditions (odds ratio (OR) 9.06; 1.13 - 12.14) and age