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Background  Upper respiratory tract infections are the leading cause of misuse of antibiotics, a problem that leads to unnecessary adverse events and antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic prescription in Ecuador was analyzed in order to evaluate the state of antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections. Both the appropriateness and adequacy of prescribing was evaluated. Appropriateness represents the percentage of prescriptions that are indicated; adequacy refers to the percentage of patients requiring antibiotics who are treated.    Methods  The aim of the study is to analyze the appropriateness and adequacy of antibiotic prescription for upper respiratory tract infections in the Ambulatory Health Centers of the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador. This is a cross-sectional study of patients from one Health Center of the Ministry of Public Health in the District 17D03 in Ecuador during 2015 with upper respiratory tract infection as a primary diagnosis.    Results  We included a total of 1393 patients in the analysis. Out of the 1393 patients identified, 523 were prescribed antibiotics, constituting an antibiotic prescription rate of 37.5%, and 51 required antibiotics, reflecting a real need of antibiotics of 3.7%. Appropriateness: Of these 523 patients who were treated, 51 required an antibiotic, resulting in an appropriate antibiotic prescription rate of 9.75%. Adequacy: When analyzing each individual case, 33 of these 51 patients received an antibiotic, constituting an adequate prescription rate of 64.7%.    Conclusions  The results of our study report a 90.25% of inappropriate prescription. The antibiotic prescription, appropriate prescription, and adequate prescription rates show the need for implementation of strategies in order to reduce them. Related aspects regarding prescriber’s behavior and the patient’s expectations should be analyzed.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (10.1186/s40360-018-0237-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

“Appropriateness and adequacy of antibiotic prescription for upper respiratory tract infections in ambulatory health care centers in Ecuador”