title: The Worldwide Antibiotic Resistance and Prescribing in European Children (ARPEC) point prevalence survey: developing hospital-quality indicators of antibiotic prescribing for children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previously, web-based tools for cross-sectional antimicrobial point prevalence surveys (PPSs) have been used in adults to develop indicators of quality improvement. We aimed to determine the feasibility of developing similar quality indicators of improved antimicrobial prescribing focusing specifically on hospitalized neonates and children worldwide.
  
  
  METHODS
  A standardized antimicrobial PPS method was employed. Included were all inpatient children and neonates receiving an antimicrobial at 8:00 am on the day of the PPS. Denominators included the total number of inpatients. A web-based application was used for data entry, validation and reporting. We analysed 2012 data from 226 hospitals (H) in 41 countries (C) from Europe (174H; 24C), Africa (6H; 4C), Asia (25H; 8C), Australia (6H), Latin America (11H; 3C) and North America (4H).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 17,693 admissions, 6499 (36.7%) inpatients received at least one antimicrobial, but this varied considerably between wards and regions. Potential indicators included very high broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing in children of mainly ceftriaxone (ranked first in Eastern Europe, 31.3%; Asia, 13.0%; Southern Europe, 9.8%), cefepime (ranked third in North America, 7.8%) and meropenem (ranked first in Latin America, 13.1%). The survey identified worryingly high use of critically important antibiotics for hospital-acquired infections in neonates (34.9%; range from 14.2% in Africa to 68.0% in Latin America) compared with children (28.3%; range from 14.5% in Africa to 48.9% in Latin America). Parenteral administration was very common among children in Asia (88%), Latin America (81%) and Europe (67%). Documentation of the reasons for antibiotic prescribing was lowest in Latin America (52%). Prolonged surgical prophylaxis rates ranged from 78% (Europe) to 84% (Latin America).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Simple web-based PPS tools provide a feasible method to identify areas for improvement of antibiotic use, to set benchmarks and to monitor future interventions in hospitalized neonates and children. To our knowledge, this study has derived the first global quality indicators for antibiotic use in hospitalized neonates and children.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Versporten
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Infectious Diseases Research Group, Institute for Infection and Immunity, St George's, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bielicki
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Drapier
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Infectious Diseases Research Group, Institute for Infection and Immunity, St George's, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharland
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium herman.goossens@uza.be.
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goossens
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents