BACKGROUND
Guidelines established by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommend oral antibiotics as first-line therapy for mild, moderate, and severe acne. However, it is recommended to minimize the duration of oral antibiotic use, and there is increasing support for other systemic agents for acne.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to characterize the use of oral antibiotics for the treatment of acne in the pediatric population, ages 10 through 20, and the adult population, ages 21 to 45, from 2011 to 2019.
METHODS
We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study using electronic data from Health Data Compass at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and its affiliates, with data in the format of the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) common data model. Categorical values (sex, race, ethnicity) were compared using Chi-square tests, and continuous variables (age) were compared using t-tests.
RESULTS
Our cohort was composed of mostly White (81.4%), non-Hispanic or Latino (84.7%), and female (70.6%) patients. Among the 4,605 male patients in the eligible cohort, 1,810 (39%) received an antibiotic treatment of interest, in comparison to 3,109 (28%) of the 11,093 eligible women. Among 4,605 men who were eligible for treatment with isotretinoin in this population, 988 (21.5%) received a course of isotretinoin, compared to only 10.4% (1,159 of 11,093) eligible women.
CONCLUSIONS
Minocycline was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic for the treatment of acne in this studied cohort. Male patients were also 1.67 times more likely to have received an antibiotic prescription and over twice as likely to have received an isotretinoin prescription than female patients. From 2015 – 2019, there was no significant change in the amount of antibiotic prescriptions over time.
CLINICALTRIAL
N/A