Abstract
National antimicrobial usage and prescription patterns during the 12 years from 2002 to 2013 were analyzed using the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. Antimicrobial usage was analyzed by major illness, sex, age, area of residence, income rank, diagnosis, and type of medical institution for each year. Total antimicrobial prescriptions increased from 15.943 daily defined dose (DDD)/1,000 inhabitants/day in 2002 to 24.219 in 2013. In 2013, 72% of total prescriptions were administered in clinics. Antimicrobials were most frequently prescribed to children younger than 10 years, followed by adults aged 70 years or older and those aged 60–69 years. Penicillins and cephems were the most popular classes of antimicrobial used. In 2013, 48% of total antibiotic usage (11.683 DDD/1,000 inhabitants/day) was due to respiratory diseases. After the Korean government has implemented a series of healthcare policies, antibiotic prescription decreased for the treatment of upper respiratory infection, the causative agents are mostly viruses.
Highlights
The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Korea is higher than that in advanced countries such as the United States and Europe[7,8], studies on the changes in antimicrobial usage patterns, which drive antimicrobial management policies, were limited in terms of research institutions, regions, and medical facilities[9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
This study explored the changes of antimicrobial usage in Korea from 2002 to 2013 through analyzing the NHIS-NSC data using defined dose (DDD) developed by the WHO for drug statistics methodology
Antimicrobial resistance remains low in Northern European countries, it is high in Southern European, Latin American and Asian countries
Summary
The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Korea is higher than that in advanced countries such as the United States and Europe[7,8], studies on the changes in antimicrobial usage patterns, which drive antimicrobial management policies, were limited in terms of research institutions, regions, and medical facilities[9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. The aim of this study was to analyze antimicrobial usage and prescription patterns at the national level in Korea during the 12-year period from 2002 to 2013. We expect the findings to help identify the major groups in need of intervention and provide grounds for developing public health policies to manage antimicrobial usage
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