Knowledge and behavior about antibiotic use in adult community residents in Tianjin city

ObjectiveTo examine the knowledge and behaviors of antibiotic use in Tianjin residents and to provide evidences for implementing specific health education on antibiotic use in the population.MethodsWe conducted a face-to-face questionnaire survey on knowledge and behaviors of antibiotic use among 1 718 residents aged 20-69 years randomly selected from 8 counties or districts in Tianjin municipality in April,2015.ResultsAmong the participants,20.9% of the males and 24.8% of the females considered that they need a doctor's prescription when purchasing antibiotic and there were 28.6% of the males and 27.6% of females reporting that they would ask a doctor to prescript antibiotic when they have a severe self-perceived illness.No gender-difference was observed in the scores of antibiotic use knowledge and behaviors (χ²=3.179,P=0.075),but there were between-age groups differences in the scores (χ²=13.295,P=0.010) and with the increment of age,the scores decreased;in addition,the scores differed by education level (χ²=38.508,P=0.000) and the residents with higher education showed higher scores;the scores also related to the residential place among the residents (P<0.05).ConclusionThe awareness of knowledge about antibiotic use is at a low level among adult residents of Tianjin city and health education on rational use of antibiotic should be promoted in the whole population.