Real-World Data about Commonly Used Antibiotics in Long-Term Care Homes in Australia from 2016 to 2019

Chloé C H Smit; Kris Rogers; Hamish Robertson; Katja Taxis; Lisa G Pont

doi:10.3390/antibiotics12091393

Real-World Data about Commonly Used Antibiotics in Long-Term Care Homes in Australia from 2016 to 2019

Antibiotics (Basel). 2023 Aug 31;12(9):1393. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12091393.

Authors

Chloé C H Smit¹, Kris Rogers¹, Hamish Robertson², Katja Taxis³, Lisa G Pont¹

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2008, Australia.
² School of Public Health & Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.
³ Department of PharmacoTherapy, Epidemiology and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands.

Abstract

In this study, we use real-world data to explore trends in antibiotic use in a dynamic cohort of long-term care (LTC) residents. A cross-sectional retrospective analysis of pharmacy medication supply records of 3459 LTC residents was conducted from 31 May 2016 to 31 May 2019. The primary outcome was the monthly prevalence of residents with an antibiotic episode. Secondary outcomes were the type of antibiotic used and duration of use. Over the three-year study period, residents were supplied 10460 antibiotics. On average, 18.9% of residents received an antibiotic monthly. Antibiotic use decreased slightly over time with a mean of 168/1000 (95% CI 146-177) residents using at least one antibiotic per month in June 2016 to 148/1000 (95% CI 127-156) in May 2019. The total number of antibiotic days per 100 resident days remained relatively constant over the study period: 8.8 days in 2016-2017, 8.4 in 2017-2018 and 6.4 in 2018-2019. Prolonged durations exceeding 100 days were seen for a small percentage of residents. We found extensive antibiotic use, which is a recognized contributor to antimicrobial resistance development, underscoring the necessity for quality treatment guidelines in this vulnerable population.

Keywords: antibiotics; drug utilization; duration of therapy; long-term care; urinary tract infections.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the 2021 UTS President Scholarship and the 2021 International Research Scholarship Offer awarded to Chloé C. H. Smit by the University of Technology, Sydney. We gratefully acknowledge their financial support.