Influence of patient symptoms and physical findings on general practitioners' treatment of respiratory tract infections: a direct observation study

Table 4 Influence of patient complaints and physical examination results on antibiotic prescription

Complaints/Physical examination results	OR	95%-CI
Pathologically altered tonsils in mouth and throat inspection	15.41	3.6–66.16
Pathological otoscopy findings	8.85	1.16–67.58
Pathological cervical lymph node palpation findings	6.24	1.97–19.71
Rales in lung auscultation	4.29	2.09–8.83
Pathological results in paranasal sinus palpation (sinus tenderness)	3.20	1.38–7.42
Fatigue	3.09	1.42–6.72
Wheezing in lung auscultation	2.91	1.17–7.23
Fever	2.19	1.06–4.54
Yellow sputum	2.10	1.07–4.14

(multiple logistic regression, OR = Odds ratio, CI = Confidence interval, for included variables see methods)

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