More on US Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing, 2010

To the Editor: With regard to the letter by Hicks et al. (April 11 issue)(1): as compared with other countries in Europe(2) and the United States, Sweden has a relatively low consumption of antibiotics in outpatient care. Data on sales of all drug prescriptions in Sweden are collected by a state-owned company, and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs is the responsible authority. Data on antibiotics specifically are published annually,(3) and we have developed comparative data. In 2012, the total sales of antibiotics for systemic use in outpatient care corresponded to 388 prescriptions per 1000 persons. The top ...