Grant: Project Grant - PA: Antimicrobial Resistance (Bridge Grant)

Antibiotics are very important medications that are used a lot in Canada. These medicines help stop infections caused by bacteria. However, antibiotic treatment can lead to superbugs, which then go on to become more common in our population. Consequently, antibiotics may stop working properly. This can happen when doctors prescribe antibiotics incorrectly for infections not caused by bacteria but by viruses like the flu or a common cold. In Canada, programs have been in place for almost two decades to educate the public on responsible antibiotic use. However, each year we also welcome migrants at some of the highest global rates. Researchers have been working to ensure the careful use of antibiotics in the general population, however, prescribing to migrants in Canada has not been closely examined. Understanding how antibiotics are used across this growing proportion of Canadians will help expand the efforts to protect the effectiveness of these essential drugs. In this study, we will use large healthcare databases from two Canadian provinces, British Columbia and Ontario, to compare overall antibiotic prescribing practices between migrants and non-migrants, and to understand how often patients incorrectly receive antibiotic prescriptions. We will then try to understand the factors of unnecessary prescribing by looking at the characteristics of the patient and the prescribing doctor. This information will help us determine how to better educate newly arrived individuals in Canada and doctors about the careful use of antibiotics. Overall, we aim to contribute to the appropriate use of antibiotics for migrants across Canada, where the correct choice of drugs, dose and duration of antibiotic therapy is imperative to safeguard the healing power of these important drugs.