Kirkcaldy RD, et al. - In this work, researchers determine whether outpatient antimicrobial drug prescribing is associated with Neisseria gonorrhoeae antimicrobial drug susceptibility in the United States. Multivariable models indicated no relation between antimicrobial drug prescribing and N. gonorrhoeae susceptibility for any of the studied antimicrobial drugs during 2005–2013. They recommended determination of epidemiologic factors contributing to resistance, including further investigation of the potential role of antimicrobial drug use.

• Researchers used susceptibility data from the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project during 2005–2013 and QuintilesIMS data on outpatient cephalosporin, macrolide, and fluoroquinolone prescribing to constructed multivariable linear mixed models for each antimicrobial agent with 1-year lagged annual prescribing per 1,000 persons as the exposure and geometric mean MIC as the outcome of interest.
• Multivariable models indicated no association between antimicrobial drug prescribing and N. gonorrhoeae susceptibility for any of the studied antimicrobial drugs during 2005–2013.