Journal
JOURNAL OF GLOBAL ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE
Volume 29, Issue -, Pages 253-258Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jgar.2022.03.021
Keywords
Point prevalence survey; Appropriateness; Anti-bacterial agents; Antibiotic prophylaxis; Bacterial infection
Categories
Funding
- Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea [2018-E2802-00]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study assessed the prevalence and appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions in Korea, finding a significant proportion of prescriptions to be inappropriate. Interventions for high-frequency infections and antibiotic prescribing practices are needed.
Objectives: Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent global health threats. The need for the qualitative evaluation of antibiotic use at the national level is increasing. To identify areas for improvement, we aimed to assess the prevalence and appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions during hospitalization and ambulatory care in Korea.Methods: The prevalence and appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions on 29 August 2018 were assessed for 20 hospitals in Korea. Infectious disease specialists determined appropriateness. Except for antiviral and anti-tuberculosis agents, all antibacterial or antifungal agent prescriptions during hospitalization or ambulatory care were evaluated.Results: The prevalence of antibiotic prescription was 14.1% (8,400/59 216 patients) on the study date. Antibiotics were prescribed for 50.8% of inpatients (6557/12 902), with two or more antibiotics prescribed for 27.4% (1798/6557) of patients. A total of 10 948 prescriptions (7999 therapeutic, 2105 surgical prophylaxes, and 844 medical prophylaxes) were included in the final analysis, and 27.7% of these were inappropriate. Surgical prophylaxis was inadequately prescribed most frequently (54.4%), followed by medical prophylaxis (29.5%) and therapeutic antibiotics (20.5%). The most common indications for therapeutic antibiotics were respiratory (29.1%, n = 2332), gastrointestinal (22.4%, n = 1791), and urinary tract infec-tions (13.1%, n = 1050). The most frequently prescribed antibiotics were cephalosporins (52.0%, n = 5490), followed by beta lactam/beta lactamase inhibitors (13.7%, n = 1373), fluoroquinolones (9.1%, n = 957), and metronidazole (6.6%, n = 699).Conclusion: This was the first nationwide qualitative antibiotic prescription adequacy evaluation in Korea. A significant proportion of antibiotic prescriptions were inappropriate. Therefore, interventions for high-frequency infections and prescription antibiotics are needed.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available