Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T22:49:17.894Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Trends in Antimicrobial Utilization at a Tertiary Teaching Hospital During a 15-Year Period (1978–1992)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Roman Pallares
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, and Health Services Research, Iowa City, Iowa
Robert Dick
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacy, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa
Richard P. Wenzel
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, and Health Services Research, Iowa City, Iowa
J. Robert Adams
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, and Health Services Research, Iowa City, Iowa
Mary D. Nettleman*
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, and Health Services Research, Iowa City, Iowa Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Iowa City, Iowa
*
Department of Internal Medicine, C41 GH, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242

Abstract

Background:

Antimicrobials are a major part of hospital pharmacy budgets and must be considered in resource planning and spending projections. Logically, trends in antimicrobial usage should be linked to trends in resistant pathogens.

Objective:

To examine long-term trends in antimicrobial use over a 15-year period (1978 to 1992) and contrast them with changes in pathogens causing nosocomial bacteremia.

Setting:

A 900-bed, tertiary care teaching hospital.

Methods:

Pharmacy records were reviewed to identify parenteral antimicrobial agents administered to adult inpatients. Results were expressed in average daily adult doses per 1,000 patient days.

Results:

Chloramphenicol use decreased, while use of penicillin G, antistaphylococcal penicillins, first-generation cephalosporins, and aminoglycosides remained relatively stable. In contrast, there was a sharp increase in the use of second- and third-generation cephalosporins (7-fold and 6.5-fold increase, respectively), vancomycin (161 -fold increase), metronidazole (32-fold increase) and amphotericin B (35-fold increase). The proportion of nosocomial bacteremias due to methicillin-resistant gram-positive bacteria rose, but gentamicin resistance in gram-negatives remained at low levels. During the past 14 years, the percentage of patients receiving at least one parenteral antimicrobial rose from 23% to 44%. Among patients receiving antimicrobials, the average number of different agents used per patient increased from 1.8 to 2.1

Conclusions:

If newer agents were available, use of older agents usually declined. If newer alternatives were not available, use of older agents rose sharply. The increased use of antimicrobials in adults was related to the expanded proportion of patients receiving these agents.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Cohen, ML. Epidemiology of drug resistance: implications for a postantimicrobial era. Science 1992;257:10501055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Kunin, CM. Problems in antibiotic use. In: Mandell, GL. Douglas, RG, Bennett, JE, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone; 1990.Google Scholar
3. Stevens, GP, Jacobson, JA, Burke, JP. Changing patterns of hospital infections and antibiotic use: prevalence surveys in a community hospital. Arch Intern Med 1981;141:587592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Moss, F, McNicol, MW, McSwiggan, DA, Miller, DL. Survey of antibiotic prescribing in a district general hospital, I. Pattern of use. Lancet 1981;2:349352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Ena, J, Dick, R, Jones, R, Wenzel, RP. The epidemiology of intravenous vancomycin usage in a university hospital: a ten-year study. JAMA 1993;269:598602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. O'Brien, TF, Task Force 2. Resistance of bacteria to antibacterial agents: report of task force 2. Rev Infect Dis 1987;9(suppl 3):S244S260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Neu, HC. The crisis of antibiotic resistance. Science 1992;257:10641073.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. Kunin, CM, Chambers, S. Responsibility of the infectious disease community for optimal use of antibiotics: views of the membership of the Infectious Disease Society of America. Rev Infect Dis 1985;7:547559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Kunin, CM. The responsibility of the infectious disease community for the optimal use of antimicrobial agents. J Infect Dis 1985;151:388398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10. Marr, JJ, Moffet, HL, Kunin, CM. Guidelines for improving the use of antimicrobial agents in hospitals: a statement by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. J Infect Dis 1988;157:869876.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. Norris, S, Nightingale, CH, Mandell, GL. Tables of antimicrobial agent pharmacology. In: Mandell, GL, Douglas, RG, Bennett, JE, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone; 1990.Google Scholar
12. Gustafson, TL. True Epistat Manual. 2nd ed. Richardson, TX: Epistat Services; 1987.Google Scholar
13. Broderick, A, Mori, M, Nettleman, M, Streed, S, Wenzel, RI? Nosocomial infections: validation of surveillance and computer modeling to identify patients at risk. Am J Epidemiol 1990;131:734742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Huth, TS, Burke, JP. Infections and antibiotic use in a community hospital, 1971-1990. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1991;12:525534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Norrby, SR, Johansson, H. Antibiotic consumption in Sweden 1975 to 1987: changes in prescription patterns. Stand J Infect Dis 1989;60(suppl):915.Google ScholarPubMed
16. Banerjee, SN, Emori, TG, Culver, DH, et al. Secular trends in nosocomial primary bloodstream infections in the United States 1980-1989. Am J Med 1991;91(suppl 3B):86S89S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17. Hirschman, SZ, Meyers, BR, Bradbury, K, Mehl, B, Gendelman, S, Kimelblatt, B. Use of antimicrobial agents in a university teaching hospital. Arch Intern Med 1988;148:20012007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Bryan, CS. Strategies to improve antibiotic use. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America 1989,3:723734.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19. McGown, JE, Finland, M. Usage of antibiotics in a general hospital: effect of requiring justification. J Infect Dis 1974;130:165168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20. Garibaldi, RA, Burke, J. Surveillance and control of antibiotic use in the hospital. Am J Infect Control 1991;19:164170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21. Ponce de Leon, S, Wenzel, RP. Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections with Staphylococcus epidermidis. Review of 100 cases. Am J Med 1984;77:639644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22. Martin, MA, Pfaller, MA, Wenzel, RP. Coagulase-negative staphylococcal bacteremia. Mortality and hospital stay. Ann Intern Med 1989;110:916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Herwaldt, L, Boyken, L, Pfaller, M. In vitro selection of resistance to vancomycin in bloodstream isolates of Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Staphylococcus epidermidis . Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 1991;10:10071012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24. Herman, DJ, Gerding, DN. Antimicrobial resistance among enterococci. Antimicrob Agents and Chemother 1991;35:14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25. Spera, RV, Farber, BE Multiply-resistant Enterococcus faecium: the nosocomial pathogen of the 1990s. JAMA 1992;268:25632564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26. McGowan, JE. Antimicrobial resistance in hospital organisms and its relation to antibiotic use. Rev Infect Dis 1983;5:10331048.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
27. Jones, RN. Gram-positive superinfections following beta-lactam chemotherapy: the significance of the Enterococcus . Infection 1985;13(suppl):C37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28. Moellering, RC Jr Enterococcal infections in patients treated with moxalactam. Rev Infect Dis 1982;4(suppl):708711.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29. Liss, RH, Batchelor, FR. Economic evaluation of antibiotic use and resistance. A perspective: report of task force 6. Rev Infect Dis 1987;9(suppl 3):S297S316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30. Schaberg, DR, Culver, DH, Gaynes, RI? Major trends in microbial etiology of nosocomial infection. Am J Med 1991;91(suppl 3B):72S75S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31. Mylotte, JM, White, D, McDermott, C, Hodan, C. Nosocomial bloodstream infection at a veterans hospital, 1979 to 1987. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1989;10:455464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar