Trend of antibiotics usage for acute pyelonephritis in Korea based on national health insurance data 2010-2014.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to describe the changes in prescribing practices of antibiotics to treat acute pyelonephritis (APN) in Korea. METHODS: The claim data base of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in Korea was used to select patients with ICD-10 codes N10 (acute tubulo-interstitial nephritis) or N12 (tubulo-interstitial nephritis, not specified as acute nor chronic) as the primary discharge diagnosis during 2010-2014. Consumption of each class of antibiotics was converted to Defined Daily Dose (DDD)/event. RESULTS: Throughout the five-year period, the average antibiotic consumption were 11.3 DDD per inpatient event and 6.0 DDD per outpatient event. The annual average antibiotic consumption increased for inpatients (P = 0.002), but remained stable for outpatients (P = 0.066). The use of parenteral antibiotics increased for inpatients (P < 0.001), but decreased for outpatients (P = 0.017). As for the the antibiotic classes, 3rd generation cephalosporins (3rd CEPs) was the most commonly prescribed (41.4%) for inpatients, followed by fluoroquinolones (FQs) (28.5%); for outpatient, FQs (54.8%) was the most commonly prescribed, followed by 3rd CEPs (13.1%). The use of 3rd CEPs (P < 0.001), beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitors (P = 0.007), and carbapenems (P < 0.001) increased substantially for the treatment of hospitalized APN patients. In particular, carbapenems use increased 3.1-fold over the 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics increased much for the treatment of APN in Korea during 2010-2014.

Failure of a Best Practice Alert to Reduce Antibiotic Prescribing Rates for Acute Sinusitis Across an Integrated Health System in the Midwest.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance is a growing concern, and in recent years, there has been increased interest in ambulatory antimicrobial stewardship. Acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) is one of the most common outpatient diagnoses that results in an antibiotic prescription. OBJECTIVE: To determine if a best practice alert (BPA) will affect the percentage of oral antibiotic prescriptions for adults with ARS. METHODS: A prospective, pre/post study was initiated to evaluate the percentage of oral antibiotic prescriptions for ARS in 117 primary care clinics in the Midwest. Included in the study results were 16,570 adults who had an office visit for ARS: 8,106 patients from December 1, 2015, to February 28, 2016, were in the pre-intervention group without an active BPA, and 8,464 patients from December 1, 2016, to February 28, 2017, were in the post-intervention group when the BPA was active. The primary outcome was the number of oral antibiotic prescriptions for ARS compared with the number of office visits for ARS in the pre- and postintervention groups. RESULTS: The percentage of oral antibiotics prescribed for the pre- and postintervention groups were 94.8% and 94.3%, respectively (P = 0.152). The BPA displayed for 7,780 visits, prompting discontinuation of an antibiotic for 10 (0.1%) visits in the postintervention group. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that, although an electronic alert may be attractive to facilitate antimicrobial stewardship, it may be ineffective. These results warrant alternative measures to facilitate ambulatory antimicrobial stewardship. DISCLOSURES: No outside funding supported this study. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Study concept and design were contributed by Hansen, D. Leedahl, and N. Leedahl. Hansen and N. Leedahl took the lead in data collection, with assistance from Carson and D. Leedahl. Data interpretation was performed by all the authors. The manuscript was written by Hansen, along with the other authors, and revised by all the authors.