Changes in the pattern of hospital intravenous antimicrobial use in Saudi Arabia, 2006-2008

ABSTRACT

Hospitals should measure antimicrobial use based on the WHO's recommended metric, the defined daily dose [DDD]. There is no data on antimicrobial usage based on DDD in Saudi Arabia. Thus, this study evaluates the trend in antimicrobial consumption based on this concept. Observational study in a general hospital in Saudi Arabia from 2006-2008. We analyzed the use of intravenous systemic antibacterial agents [group 101 of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical [ATC] classification and the classes of this group] that were administered to hospitalized patients by revieweing the data obtained from the pharmacy records. Antimicrobial consumption was calculated as the number DDD per 100 bed-days. Of the total parenteral antibiotics, ciprofloxacin was the most common used intravenous antibiotic [67.6%], followed by ceftriaxone [6%], cefazolin [5%], and imipenem-enzyme inhibitor [4.3%]. The DDD per 100 patients-days usage of intravenous antimicrobial agents was as follows J01MA02 ciprofloxacin [parenteral] 82.643, J01DD04 ceftriaxone 7.447, J01DB02 cefazolin 6.166, J01DH51 imipenem-enzyme inhibitor 5.234, J01MA 12 levofloxacin 3.188, and J01XA01 vancomycin 2.97. intravenous ciprofloxacin usage increased from 3.55 to 82.643 DDDD/100 patient days. The study showed that the most commonly used intravenous systemic antimicrobial agents was ciprofloxacin. Thus, strategies are needed to specifically target these agents for prescribing improvement