Outpatient antibiotic use and assessment of antibiotic guidelines in Chinese children's hospitals.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to investigate outpatient antibiotic use and assess the impacts of intervention in five Chinese children's hospitals from 2002 to 2006.


METHODS
The Anatomical Therapeutical Chemical Classification/Defined Daily Doses and Drug Utilization 90% methodologies were used. We also analyzed the relationship between antibiotic consumption and resistant rate in one of the hospitals.


RESULTS
The overall antibiotic consumption decreased during the intervention period in some hospitals, and the variation in use between hospitals was also reduced. A decrease in penicillins and first-generation cephalosporins, and an increase in third-generation cephalosporins as well as in the combinations of penicillins and beta-lactamase inhibitors were observed. In addition, an increasing resistance to antibiotics was a concern due to antibiotic overconsumption.


CONCLUSIONS
The intervention had effects on the overall antibiotic use in outpatients. However, over the span of 5 years, there was a decrease in the use of narrow-spectrum antibiotics and an increase in broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Zhang
Wenshuang
W
Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Shen
Xuzhuang
X
Wang
Yi
Y
Chen
Yuan
Y
Huang
Min
M
Zeng
Qiyi
Q
Fan
Maohuai
M
Bergman
Ulf
U
Yang
Yonghong
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D003625:Data Collection; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents