ABSTRACT
Background:
Antimicrobial stewardship programs are an efficient way to reduce inappropriate use of antimicrobials and costs; however, supporting data are scarce in middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate antibiotic use, bacterial susceptibility profiles, and the economic impact following implementation of a broad-spectrum beta-lactam-sparing antimicrobial stewardship program.
Methods:
An interrupted time-series analysis was performed to evaluate antibiotic use and expenditure over a 24-month period (12 months before the antimicrobial stewardship program and in the 12 months after implementation of the antimicrobial stewardship program). Antibiotics were classified into one of two groups: beta-lactam antibiotics and beta-lactam-sparing antibiotics. We also compared the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of key pathogens in each period.
Results:
Beta-lactam antibiotics use decreased by 43.04 days of therapy/1000 patient-days (p = 0.04) immediately following antimicrobial stewardship program implementation, whereas beta-lacta-sparing antibiotics use increased during the intervention period (slope change 6.17 days of therapy/1000 patient-days, p < 0.001). Expenditure decreased by $2089.99 (p < 0.001) immediately after intervention and was maintained at this level over the intervention period ($−38.45; p = 0.24). We also observed that a greater proportion of pathogens were susceptible to cephalosporins and aminoglycosides after the antimicrobial stewardship program.
Conclusions:
The antimicrobial stewardship program significantly reduced the use of broad-spectrum beta-lactam-antibiotics associated with a decrease in expenditure and maintenance of the susceptibility profile in Gram-negative bacteria.
Keywords
Antimicrobial stewardship; Hospital setting; Tertiary care; Trauma emergency; Middle-income country
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