WIDE VARIATION OF ANTIBIOTIC USE IN EUROPE (p 1851)June 06, 2001The type and frequency of antibiotic use varies greatly throughout Europe, according to authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET. The use of antibiotics has not been assessed on a European scale, although information on use could be helpful in preventing antimicrobial resistance. Otto Cars and colleagues from the Swedish Institute for Infectious Diseases Control, Solna, Sweden, assessed antibiotic use in all member states of the EU. They analysed data for 1993 and1997 from the Institute for Medical Statistics Global Health Services, UK, on 13 of the 15 EU countries, and Swedish and Danish agencies for the remaining data. The investigators found that antibiotic use varied widely; the 1997 data showed that France and Spain had the highest antibiotic use (36.5 and 32.4 defined daily antibiotic doses per 1000 inhabitants per day [DDD/1000 inh/day], respectively). This contrasted with antibiotic use in The Netherlands (8.9 DDD/1000 inh/day), and in Denmark (11.3 DDD/1000 inh/day). Seven countries showed an increase of less than 4% between 1993 and 1997; a prominent increase in antibiotic use was noted in Italy (34%) and Luxembourg (12%). In 11 of the 15 countries, broad-spectrum penicillin was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic. There was a great variation in the use of other antibiotic classes. Otto Cars comments: "To meet the threat to human health posed by resistant micro-organisms it should be in the interest of every country to collect detailed data on antibiotic prescriptions to optimise the use of these drugs. We therefore encourage EU member states to challenge the IMS data presented in this study and to do comparable epidemiological studies on antibiotic prescribing and resistance". (Quote by e-mail; does not appear in published letter). Contact: Professor Otto Cars, Swedish Institute for Infectious Diseases Control, Nobels vag 18, SE-171 82 Solna. Sweden T)+46 8 4572385 or +46 18 611 56 40 F) +46 18 611 56 50; E) otto.cars@smi.ki.se
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