ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1654293
Prevalence of inappropriate use behaviors of antibiotics and related factors among parents in eastern China: An online cross-sectional survey
Provisionally accepted
- Nantong Center for Disease Control And Prevention, Nantong, China
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Objective This study aimed to investigate parental knowledge about antibiotic use, estimate the prevalence of inappropriate antibiotic use behaviors, identify related factors among parents in eastern China, and provide targeted suggestions for promoting rational antibiotic use in children. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted between October and November 2024. A multistage stratified cluster random sampling method and a self-administered questionnaire were used to collect demographic and sociological characteristics, knowledge, and behaviors regarding antibiotic use from 2575 parents in eastern China. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the factors influencing the inappropriate use of antibiotics. Results Among the 2,575 participants, 49.05% reported self-storage of antibiotics (SSA) for their children, 21.90% reported self-medication with antibiotics (SMA), 57.13% reported non-adherence to antibiotic treatment (NAAT), and 8.04% reported using antibiotics for disease prevention in their children in the past year. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that parents scored less than 5 were more likely to report NAAT (adjusted OR [aOR] = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.15–1.83) and use antibiotics for disease prevention (aOR = 5.62, 95% CI = 3.26–9.69) in their children and less likely to report SSA (aOR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.54–0.86). Storing antibiotics at home was associated with an increased likelihood of SMA (aOR = 7.25, 95% CI = 5.69–9.24) and using antibiotics for disease prevention in children (aOR = 8.42, 95% CI = 5.61–12.63). Conclusions In Nantong City, eastern China, parents with low levels of antibiotic knowledge demonstrated a high frequency of inappropriate antibiotic use for children. To promote rational antibiotic use, efforts should focus on improving parental knowledge through health education, formulation of rational use strategies, and reducing antibiotic storage at home.
Keywords: Antibiotic use, Cognition, Behavior, Parental knowledge, self-medication
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 21 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Huang, AN, Jiao, Zhu, Guo, Tan and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Huamin Sun, Nantong Center for Disease Control And Prevention, Nantong, China
Weiwei Tan, Nantong Center for Disease Control And Prevention, Nantong, China
Weibin Zhang, Nantong Center for Disease Control And Prevention, Nantong, China
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