Introduction: Growing bacterial resistance threatens public health, which can be tempered by prudent antibiotic use.
Aim: To quantify systemic antibacterial use in Hungarian hospitals.
Method: Consumption data were analysed using the Anatomical-Therapeutic-Chemical - Defined Daily Dose (ATC/DDD) methodology. Data were standardized for patient turnover and also for population to enable international benchmarking.
Results: Hospital antibiotic use was quite constant (22.4 ± 1.5 DDD/100 patient-days), but its composition changed substantially. The use of parenteral products rose gradually (in 1996 26.4% and in 2015 41.6%). The pattern of use was homogenised due to the headway of co-amoxiclav use. A substantial increase of fluoroquinolone (2.3 vs. 4.2 DDD/100 patient-days) and third generation cephalosporin (1.0 vs. 2.9 DDD/100 patient-days) use was detected. In parallel the use of narrow spectra penicillins diminished.
Conclusion: Hungarian hospital antibiotic use is low. The causes and the justification of this low use together with the internationally outstanding use of certain antibacterials should be addressed in future studies. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(46), 1839-1846.
Keywords: antibacterial surveillance; antibacterial use; antibiotikum-felhasználás; antibiotikum-surveillance; hospital care sector; kórházi ellátás; mintázat; patterns of antibacterial use; trend; trends.