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Table 3 Principal diagnoses 1

From: Visit complexity, diagnostic uncertainty, and antibiotic prescribing for acute cough in primary care: a retrospective study

Diagnoses

Total

Residents

Non-residents

Given antibiotics

Diagnostic uncertainty

N (%)

Antibiotic-appropriate

 Sinusitis

99 (10)

28 (7)

71 (13)

77 (78)

19 (19)

 Pneumonia

74 (8)

32 (8)

42 (7)

51 (69)

36 (49)

 Streptococcal pharyngitis

69 (7)

26 (7)

43 (8)

27 (39)

49 (71)

 Otitis media

16 (2)

6 (2)

10 (2)

13 (81)

1 (6)

 Bacterial infection2

10 (1)

3 (1)

7 (1)

6 (60)

8 (80)

 Pertussis

9 (1)

4 (1)

5 (1)

6 (67)

6 (67)

Subtotal

277 (29)

99 (25)

178 (32)

180 (65)

119 (43)

Non-antibiotic-appropriate

 Upper respiratory infection

445 (46)

192 (48)

253 (45)

14 (3)

12 (3)

 Acute bronchitis

90 (9)

34 (9)

56 (10)

13 (14)

4 (4)

 Post-nasal drip

33 (3)

15 (4)

18 (3)

1 (3)

3 (9)

 Non-streptococcal pharyngitis

33 (3)

18 (5)

15 (3)

0 (0)

5 (15)

 Allergies

32 (3)

17 (4)

15 (3)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 Reactive airway disease

5 (1)

1 (0)

4 (1)

0 (0)

1 (20)

 Other3

47 (5)

23 (6)

24 (4)

2 (4)

6 (13)

Subtotal

685 (71)

300 (75)

385 (68)

29 (4)

32 (5)

Total

962 (100)

399 (100)

563 (100)

209 (22)

151 (16)

  1. 1 Total, Resident, and Non-resident percentages are column percents. Given antibiotics and Diagnostic uncertainty are row percents. Percentages may not add up because of rounding.
  2. 2 “Bacterial infection” was most often written as “bacterial superinfection”.
  3. 3 “Other” includes diagnoses that were listed 5 times or fewer, or that listed “cough” as a diagnosis. The most common other diagnoses were “cough” (16), influenza (4), and gastroesophageal reflux disease (3).