[Methods for the measurement of drug consumption: application to antibiotics].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this article is to present and compare the different methods used to study drug consumption.


METHODS
Particular attention is given to one method, the defined daily dose (DDD), for antibiotic dispensation data in Toulouse University Hospital Centre between 2001 and 2003.


RESULTS
Data, expressed in units of packaging, were converted into grams of active substance and then to number of DDD. The number of hospitalization days was used to calculate the penetration index (ratio of number of DDD to the number of hospitalization days). Penetration indexes were similar for each year of study period: 60.6 for 100 patient-days in 2001, 67.7 in 2002 and 66.6 in 2003 (p = 0.37). The most prescribed class was penicillin, most often amoxicillin.


CONCLUSIONS
Use of DDD methodology and penetration index is an accessible and simple tool for monitoring consumption of antibiotics as well as other drugs.
Unité de Pharmacoépidémiologie, EA 3696, Service de Pharmacologie Clinique, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
Agnès
A
Sommet
Blandine
B
Juillard-Condat
Philippe
P
Cestac
Maryse
M
Lapeyre-Mestre
Jean-Louis
JL
Montastruc
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003625:Data Collection; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005602:France
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents