Antibiotic Use in Children with Acute Respiratory or Ear Infections: Prospective Observational Comparison of Anthroposophic and Conventional Treatment under Routine Primary Care Conditions
Table 4
Disease status at baseline, consultation length.
Item
Anthroposophy group ( = 443)
Conventional group ( = 86)
-value
%
%
Chief complaint
Sore throat
98
22.1%
14
16.3%
Cough
215
48.5%
35
40.7%
0.001
Ear pain
130
29.3%
37
43.0%
Duration of chief complaint
0–≤24 h
160
36.1%
18
20.9%
>24 h–≤48 h
121
27.3%
22
25.6%
0.002
>2 days–≤7 days
161
36.3%
46
53.5%
Severe or very severe intensity of chief complaint
(i) all patients
284
64.3%
44
51.2%
0.028
(ii) chief complaint ear pain
93/130
71.5%
18/37
48.6%
0.017
Fever ≥ 38.5°C
85
19.2%
13
15.1%
0.449
Symptom score (0–4, mean ± SD)
1.3 ± 0.7
1.0 ± 0.6
0.011
Diagnosis of chief complaint
0.002
Otitis media
114
25.7%
29
33.7%
0.144
Laryngitis/tracheitis/bronchitis
150
33.9%
18
20.9%
0.022
Pharyngitis/tonsillitis
103
23.3%
12
14.0%
0.063
Common cold/upper respiratory tract infection
35
7.9%
16
18.6%
0.004
Other
41
9.3%
11
12.8%
Physician’s confidence in diagnosis (0–10, mean ± SD)
9.4 ± 1.0
9.1 ± 1.2
0.136
(i) based on clinical examination
433
97.7%
79
91.9%
0.023
(ii) based on symptoms alone
10
2.3%
7
8.1%
Chief complaint episode within last 12 months
271
61.2%
42
48.8%
0.053
Concomitant disease present
139
31.4%
23
26.7%
0.444
Disease of respiratory system
40
9.0%
17
19.8%
0.007
Medication use for concomitant disease
67
15.1%
12
14.0%
0.870
Anti-asthmatics
4
0.9%
7
8.1%
<0.001
Caregiver’s confidence in physician’s professional skill
= 361
= 77
Extremely
272
75.3%
33
42.9%
Quite a bit
82
22.7%
32
41.6%
<0.001
Moderately
5
1.4%
11
14.3%
Slightly or not at all
2
0.6%
1
0.3%
Does caregiver have confidence that the treatment will solve the medical problem? (yes/no)-yes
357/358
99.7%
74/75
98.7%
0.317
Did caregiver have freedom to choose this physician? (yes/no)-yes
