[Antibiotic therapy frequency in hospitalised patients and associated risk factors]

Determining antimicrobial indication and frequency of use in hospitalised patients.

Date and place of work: May 1st to June 30th 2006, Colima, Mexico. An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out; it involved 400 patients from both sexes hospitalised in different second level hospital departments. The variables analysed were: age, gender and the department from which each patient was referred. Antibiotics were evaluated according to type, frequency of use, whether use was prophylactic or therapeutic, whether treatment design was monotherapeutic or mixed, the amount of time taken from being admitted to hospital to beginning treatment, the number of days of treatment, the motive for changing or suspending therapeutic design, the number of patients receiving complete design and the number of patients for whom cultures were or were not done.

63% of the patients received antibiotic therapy, antibiotic use being prophylactic in 46 % of them. The General Surgery Department presented statistically significant antibiotic use association (3.9 OR; 1.7-8.9 CI; p<0.01) and the Internal Medicine Department presented a protector factor (0.5 OR, 0.3-0.8 CI, p<0.01). Betalactamic antibiotics were most frequently used (47%). Mean antibacterial treatment lasted 3.8+/-3.3 days and the amount of time taken from hospital admittance to beginning antibiotic treatment was 13.6+/-47.4 hours. Cultures were done for 2.8% of the patients.

63% of hospitalised patients received antibiotic therapy. The prophylactic impact of antibiotics on intrahospital infection frequency and characteristics should be evaluated and their cost-benefit calculated.