Use of antibiotics in rural and urban regions in the Netherlands: an observational drug utilization study

BMC Public Health

Table 2 Prevalence (%) of persons using antibiotics, stratified by 3 separate years and by age and sex

Year/age group	1999			2004			2009
Year/age group	Rural	Urban	p*	Rural	Urban	p	Rural	Urban	p
Total	24.8	20.2	<0.001	22.4	19.8	<0.001	23.6	20.2	<0.001
0-19 years	23.9	18.6	<0.001	20.6	18.1	<0.001	19.3	17.4	<0.001
20-45 years	23.0	15.9	<0.001	20.3	15.8	<0.001	22.6	16.1	<0.001
46-70 years	25.3	24.8	0.413	23.2	22.7	<0.001	23.5	23.4	0.9822
71 and older	38.1	33.7	<0.001	34.0	36.5	0.015	36.6	41.9	<0.001
male	21.2	16.1	<0.001	19.1	15.3	<0.001	19.7	15.7	<0.001
female	28.5	23.7	<0.001	25.5	23.5	<0.001	27.6	24.2	<0.001

^* X ² test. Bold: significant difference, higher in rural area; Italics: significant difference higher in urban area.

ISSN: 1471-2458