TY - JOUR AU - Singleton, David AU - Pinchbeck, Gina AU - Radford, Alan AU - Arsevska, Elena AU - Dawson, Susan AU - Jones, Philip AU - Noble, Peter-John AU - Williams, Nicola AU - Sánchez-Vizcaíno, Fernando T1 - Factors Associated with Prescription of Antimicrobial Drugs for Dogs and Cats, United Kingdom, 2014–2016 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2020 VL - 26 IS - 8 SP - 1778 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Antimicrobial stewardship is a cornerstone of efforts to curtail antimicrobial resistance. To determine factors potentially influencing likelihood of prescribing antimicrobials for animals, we analyzed electronic health records for unwell dogs (n = 155,732 unique dogs, 281,543 consultations) and cats (n = 69,236 unique cats, 111,139 consultations) voluntarily contributed by 173 UK veterinary practices. Using multivariable mixed effects logistic regression, we found that factors associated with decreased odds of systemic antimicrobial prescription were client decisions focused on preventive health: vaccination (dogs, odds ratio [OR] 0.93, 95% CI, 0.90–0.95; cats, OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.89–0.95), insurance (dogs, OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.84–0.90; cats, OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.79–0.86), neutering of dogs (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.88–0.92), and practices accredited by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (OR 0.79, 95% 95% CI 0.68–0.92). This large multicenter companion animal study demonstrates the potential of preventive healthcare and client engagement to encourage responsible antimicrobial drug use. KW - Epidemiology KW - pets KW - dogs KW - cats KW - veterinary KW - informatics KW - antibacterial agents KW - prescriptions KW - antimicrobial resistance KW - bacteria KW - United Kingdom DO - 10.3201/eid2608.191786 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/8/19-1786_article ER - End of Reference