Patterns of antimicrobial drug use in veterinary primary care and specialty practice: A 6-year multi-institution study

Abstract

Background: Combatting antimicrobial resistance requires a One Health approach to antimicrobial stewardship including antimicrobial drug (AMD) use evaluation. Current veterinary AMD prescribing data are limited.

Objectives: To quantify companion animal AMD prescribing in primary care and specialty practice across 3 academic veterinary hospitals with particular focus on third-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and carbapenems.

Animals: Dogs and cats presented to 3 academic veterinary hospitals from 2012 to 2017.

Methods: In this retrospective study, AMD prescribing data from 2012 to 2017 were extracted from electronic medical records at each hospital and prescriptions classified by service type: primary care, specialty practice or Emergency/Critical Care (ECC). Hospital-level AMD prescribing data were summarized by species, service type, AMD class, and drug. Multivariable logistic full-factorial regression models were used to estimate hospital, year, species, and service-type effects on AMD prescribing. Estimated marginal means and confidence intervals were plotted over time.

Results: The probability of systemic AMD prescribing for any indication ranged between 0.15 and 0.28 and was higher for dogs than cats (P < .05) apart from 2017 at hospital 1. Animals presented to primary care were least likely to receive AMDs (dogs 0.03-0.15, cats 0.03-0.18). The most commonly prescribed AMD classes were aminopenicillins/β-lactamase inhibitors (0.02-0.15), first-generation cephalosporins (0.00-0.09), fluoroquinolones (0.00-0.04), nitroimidazoles (0.01-0.06), and tetracyclines (0.00-0.03). Among the highest priority classes, fluoroquinolones (dogs 0.00-0.09, cats 0.00-0.08) and third-generation cephalosporins (dogs 0.00-0.04, cats 0.00-0.05) were most frequently prescribed.

Conclusions and clinical importance: Antimicrobial drug prescribing frequencies were comparable to previous studies. Additional stewardship efforts might focus on fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins.

Keywords: antibiotic; antimicrobial drug; antimicrobial prescribing practices; antimicrobial prescription.