Cost-effectiveness analysis of a multi-dimensional intervention to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for children with upper respiratory tract infections in China.

BACKGROUND: We developed a multifaceted intervention to reduce antibiotic prescription rate for children with upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) among primary care doctors in township hospitals in China. The intervention achieved a 29% (95% CI 16-42) absolute risk reduction in antibiotic prescribing. This study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of our intervention at reducing antibiotic prescribing in rural primary care facilities as measured by the intervention's effect on the antibiotic prescription rates for childhood URTIs.

METHODS: We took a healthcare provider perspective, measuring costs of consultation (time cost of doctor), prescription monitoring process and peer-review meetings (time cost of participants) and medication costs. Costs on provider side were collected through a bespoke questionnaire from all 25 township hospitals in December 2016, while medication costs were collected prospectively in the trial. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated by dividing the mean difference in cost of the two trial arms by the mean difference in antibiotic prescribing rate.

RESULTS: This showed an incremental cost of $0.03 per percentage point reduction in antibiotic prescribing. In addition to this incremental cost, the cost of implementing the intervention, including training and materials delivered by township hospitals, was $390.65 (SD $145.68) per healthcare facility.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a multifaceted intervention programme, when embedded into routine practice, is very cost-effective at reducing antibiotic prescribing in primary care facilities and has the potential of scale up in similar resource limited settings.