[ANTIBIOTIC USE IN COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE IN ISRAEL AS REFLECTED IN THE NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR QUALITY INDICATORS]

We sought to evaluate the extent of overall and second-line systemic antibiotic use in the Israeli community, to compare them to international data and to monitor temporal trends.

Antibiotic overuse is prevalent and has grave implications, primarily the emergence of resistant pathogens - an urgent public health concern worldwide.

The Israel National Program for Quality Indicators in Community Healthcare (QICH) obtains data from electronic medical records from the 4 health-plans, covering the entire civilian population. We assessed 2 quality indicators, compatible with those of the OECD: 1. Overall volume of antibiotics for systemic use dispensed. 2. Volume of second-line antibiotics as a proportion of all systemic antibiotics. Analysis was stratified by gender, age and socio-economic position (SEP).

The volume of systemic antibiotics dispensed in 2016 was 20.76 DDD/1000 person/day, with second-line antibiotics comprising 22.0% of the total. These values have been stable since 2014, and are higher compared with the OECD averages (20.61 DDD/1000 person/day, and 17.02% in 2015). Both overall volume and the proportion of second-line antibiotics rose with age and were higher among women especially in the 20-40 years age bracket (overall volume of 23.98 DDD/1000 person/day, proportion of second-line antibiotics of 23.98% VS 17.41 and 19.17% in men). Higher overall use was observed among patients of low SEP.

The observed volume of systemic antibiotics and the proportion of second-line antibiotics dispensed in the Israeli community were stable and high. Higher use was observed among older individuals, women and patients of low SEP. Our results call for the implementation of a national-level, community-based antibiotic stewardship program. QICH might serve to monitor such a program.