Assessment of awareness regarding the diagnosis and management of pharyngitis in children among general practitioners
Authors:   I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ukraine, Boyarchuk O.R. , Mochulska O.M. ,   I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ukraine, Yarema N.I. ,   I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ukraine, Horishnyi I.M. ,   I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ukraine
Published: January 2024

Sore throat and pharyngitis account for up to 5.0% of all medical visits to a general practitioner. The etiology of pharyngitis in both adults and children is dominated by viruses, but in 20.0-30.0% of children the cause may be bacteria, most often the Group A β-hemolytic streptococcus. Purpose - to assess the knowledge of general practitioners regarding the diagnosis and management of pharyngitis in children, to determine further ways to increase their level of awareness. Materials and methods. A survey of 60 general practitioners in the Ternopil region of Ukraine was conducted to determine their awareness of the diagnosis and management of pharyngitis in children. The questionnaire and statistical methods were used. Results. In total, 45.0% of general practitioners in individual cases prescribed bacteriological cultures from the oropharynx to patients with acute pharyngitis. However, they rarely (6.7%) used the Center or McIsaac criteria to choose a treatment strategy for acute pharyngitis. Antibiotic therapy for the treatment of pharyngitis was used in individual cases by 86.7% of respondents. Amoxicillin was chosen as a first-line antibiotic by 38.3% of respondents, while protected aminopenicillins were chosen by 36.6%. Only 10.0% of general practitioners indicated a 10-day course of antibiotic therapy. A little more than half of the correct answers were to questions related to the appointment of antibacterial therapy to healthy children in whom the Group A β-hemolytic streptococcus was detected during bacteriological examination or an increased level of antistreptolysin-O in the blood. Conclusions. The results of our study showed a different level of knowledge of general practitioners regarding some aspects of diagnosis and management of pharyngitis in children. Insufficient knowledge was demonstrated regarding the possibilities of diagnosing the streptococcal etiology of pharyngitis, in particular the use of both clinical and laboratory research methods. Despite good knowledge about prescribing antibacterial therapy, poor awareness about the duration of antibacterial therapy and incomplete knowledge about the choice of antibacterial agent are shown. Relatively satisfactory knowledge was demonstrated regarding the strategy of management of streptococcal carriage in healthy children. The presented data indicate the need to improve the awareness of general practitioners regarding the diagnosis and treatment of pharyngitis, taking into account the modern complications of streptococcal infection. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the participating institution. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.