RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 What Drives Prescribing of Asthma Medication to Children? A Multilevel Population-Based Study JF The Annals of Family Medicine JO Ann Fam Med FD American Academy of Family Physicians SP 32 OP 40 DO 10.1370/afm.910 VO 7 IS 1 A1 Mira G. P. Zuidgeest A1 Liset van Dijk A1 Peter Spreeuwenberg A1 Henriëtte A. Smit A1 Bert Brunekreef A1 Hubertus G. M. Arets A1 Madelon Bracke A1 Hubert G. M. Leufkens YR 2009 UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/7/1/32.abstract AB PURPOSE Diagnosing asthma in children with asthmatic symptoms remains a challenge, particularly in preschool children. This challenge creates an opportunity for variability in prescribing. The aim of our study was to investigate how and to what degree patient, family, and physician characteristics influence prescribing of asthma medication in children. METHODS We undertook a multilevel population-based study using the second Dutch national survey of general practice (DNSGP-2), 2001. Participants were 46,371 children aged 1 to 17 years belonging to 25,537 families registered with 109 general practitioners. Using a multilevel multivariate logistic regression analysis with 3 levels, our main outcome measure was the prescribing of asthma medication, defined as at least 1 prescription for β2-adrenergic agonists, inhaled corticosteroids, cromones, or montelukast during the 1-year study period. RESULTS We identified characteristics significantly associated with prescribing asthma medication on all 3 levels (child, family, and physician). The variance in prescribing among physicians was significantly higher with children who were younger than 6 years than with children aged 6 years and older (95% CI, 3.5%–25.2% vs 2.4%–13.4%). Several diagnoses other than asthma and asthmatic complaints were strongly associated with prescribing asthma medication, including bronchitis/bronchiolitis (OR = 9.04; 95% CI, 7.57–10.8) and cough (OR = 6.51; 95% CI, 5.68–7.47). CONCLUSIONS Our study shows a much higher variance in prescribing patterns among general practitioners for children younger than 6 years compared with older children, which could be a direct result of the diagnostic complexities found in young children with asthmatic symptoms. Thus diagnostic gaps may lead to more physician-driven prescribing irrespective of the clinical context.