Evaluation of the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance in Japan during its first eighteen months

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Infectious Diseases
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global public health concern.
• Japan implemented a national action plan in April 2016 to combat AMR.
• The plan aimed to reduce antimicrobial usage by one-third by 2020 compared to 2013 levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of Japan's national action plan in reducing antimicrobial consumption.
• To analyze trends in antimicrobial prescription rates using prescription surveillance (PS).

Main Methods:

• Utilized prescription surveillance data from April 2011 to September 2017.
• Employed regression analysis, including dummy variables for infectious disease patient numbers and other control variables.
• Assessed the significance of changes in antimicrobial prescription numbers post-action plan implementation.

Main Results:

• The number of patients prescribed antimicrobials did not show a statistically significant decrease after the action plan's initiation.
• Excluding infectious disease patient numbers as an explanatory variable resulted in a significant estimated coefficient, suggesting their influence.
• Including infectious disease patient numbers as a dummy variable did not yield a significant coefficient.

Conclusions:

• Japan's national action plan may not have effectively reduced the overall number of patients receiving antimicrobials.
• The study highlights the need for continued monitoring and potentially revised strategies to curb antimicrobial use.
• Further research is recommended to investigate potential reductions in the average amount of antimicrobials prescribed per patient.