Short-term effect of antibiotic control policy on the usage patterns and cost of antimicrobials, mortality, nosocomial infection rates and antibacterial resistance

SummaryObjectivesIn 2003 Turkish government released a new budget application instruction for regulating the usage of parenteral antibiotics inside and outside of the hospitals. In this study it was aimed to evaluate the effect of this instruction on the overall usage of restricted antibiotics, their cost, overall mortality, bacterial resistance patterns and nosocomial infection rates in intensive care units (ICUs) of our setting for March–October 2002 and March–October 2003 periods.Methods and resultsOverall daily defined dose/1000 patients/day of restricted drugs decreased, whereas unrestricted drugs increased significantly after the instruction. The cost of all analysed drugs in 2003 period was 540,303 USD (−19.6%) less than 2002 period. Nosocomial infection rates in ICUs decreased significantly (p < 0.05). When all microbiologically confirmed nosocomial bacteremia cases during the study period were analysed, amoxycilline/clavulanate, ciprofloxacin, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, piperacilline/tazobactam resistance and ESBL rate in Klebsiella pneumoniae decreased significantly (p < 0.05). Amikacin resistance in Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii increased significantly (p < 0.05).ConclusionAntibiotic control is one of the most important and significant ways to save money, and to prevent antibacterial resistance.