[High exposure to antibiotics in the population and differences by sex and age].

Purpose: To determine antibiotic use and its distribution by age and gender, as well as the most prescribed therapeutic group.

Design: Observational descriptive with retrospective data.

Settings And Participants: Population from the Lleida (Spain) Health Region receiving antibiotic prescriptions from 2002 to 2007.

Measurements: Daily Dose Per Inhabitant (DID) was calculated, as well as the number of patients under treatment. The study variables were: age, gender, number of patients under antibiotic treatment and pharmacological group.

Results: Mean prevalence of patients receiving antibiotics was 36.93% (33.51% in men and 40.42% in women). The DID in Lleida during 2007 is 23.52. The majority (56%) had received antibiotics once a year. The antibiotic consumption prevalence has a "V" shape with higher values among children and old people. There is an annual exposure to antibiotics in 58.8% of the 0 to 4 years-old age group. The most prescribed antibiotic is amoxicillin/clavulanic.

Conclusions: We observe a high antibiotic prescription rate among children and older people, the high consumption in childhood being of note. There is also a higher use of antibiotics among women and changing of prescription towards broad spectrum antibiotics.