A 5-Year Retrospective Analysis of Antibiotic Utilisation Pattern by AWaRe Classification in Qatar

Abstract

Background: To analyse the trend and pattern of antibiotic consumption rates over a period of five years in a secondary care hospital in Qatar. Consumption of antibiotics is a crucial factor in the evaluation of antibiotic usage.

Methods: To measure and compare a five-year antibiotic consumption trend in inpatient department wards using Defined Daily Dose (DDD) per 100 bed days (DDD/100-BD). Antibiotics dispensed between January 2018 and December 2022 were evaluated. Data collection was done using Microsoft Excel. The analysis was done using the World Health Organization (WHO) AWaRe classification of antibiotics.

Results: The analysis showed that antibiotic consumption significantly increased from 2018 (4.11 DBD) to 2020 (15.55 DBD) and then sustained thereafter. Widely used antibiotic belongs to the third generation cephalosporins which is under Watch class of antibiotics. Ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, and amoxicillin clavulanate were the most consumed antibiotics in the hospital throughout the study period at 53.92 DBD, 32.22 DBD and 21.65 DBD respectively.

Conclusion: Establish benchmarking at the facility level. We observed the use of ceftriaxone is more as surgical prophylaxis, which is a Watch group of antibiotics, however there is zero use of restricted antimicrobials. Increase in parenteral fluroquinolone especially levofloxacin needs monitoring, which is not included in WHO essential list of medication. There is a scope to measure the appropriateness of antibiotics, as well as the duration of therapy. The goal of WHO Target ≥60% of total antibiotic consumption being Access group antibiotics can be used as an index to analyse the comparative use Watch and Access group of antibiotics.