Appropriate Treatment for Upper Respiratory Infection (URI)

The percentage of episodes for persons 3 months of age and older with a diagnosis of upper respiratory infection (URI) that did not result in an antibiotic dispensing event.

Why It Matters

The common cold (or URI) is a frequent reason for patients visiting the doctor’s office. Though existing clinical guidelines do not support the use of antibiotics for the common cold, physicians often prescribe them for this ailment¹.

Clinical practice guidelines do not recommend antibiotics for a majority of upper respiratory tract infections because of the viral etiology of these infections, including the common cold. A performance measure of antibiotic use for URI sheds light on the prevalence of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in clinical practice and raises awareness of the importance of reducing inappropriate antibiotic use to combat antibiotic resistance in the community.

This measure is reported as an inverted rate. A higher rate indicates better performance (i.e., the proportion of episodes that did not result in an antibiotic dispensing event).

Historical Results – National Averages