Abstract
Introduction: Antibiotics (ATB) are essential medicines and have unquestionable uses. Unfortunately, the irrational use of ATB leads to the risks of adverse effects, interactions, and the development of drug resistance.
This study aimed to analyse ATB consumption for systemic use in the Czech Republic (CR) in 2005-2019 and provide conclusions for clinical practice. Methods: The analysis of ATB consumption for systemic use was performed as a longitudinal retrospective analysis of data from the State Institute for Drug Control database in the years 2005-2019 using the standard methodology for studying drug consumption of the DUR (Drug Utilization Review) type.
ATB consumption was calculated as defined daily doses (DDD) of each ATB per thousand inhabitants per day (TID). The total consumption of ATB for systemic use in each year was analysed.
Secondarily, consumption for individual representatives or subgroups was analysed and relative quality indicators of ATB consumption were evaluated. Results: The highest consumption of ATB for systemic use was observed in 2015 when it reached 19.3338 DDD/TID.
Beta-lactam ATB (penicillins) was the most commonly used group of ATB throughout the study period. The most significant change in consumption over the period was in the fluoroquinolone group, where the decrease from 2005 to 2019 was more than 2-fold.
The obvious was the downward trend in consumption of norfloxacin, which occurred in 2013. ATB consumption increased mainly for meropenem, vancomycin, cefuroxime-axetil, beta-Lactamase-protected penicillins and the 2nd and 3rd generation cephalosporins.
Conclusion: In the overall assessment, CR was not among the countries with high ATB consumption and frequent negative results in the relative quality indicators of ATB consumption. In particular, the possible irrational substitution of some ATB and an increase in the consumption of some broad-spectrum ATB was observed in CR.