A comparison of antibiotics consumption and bacterial resistance patterns in Kuwait and Sweden

The total utilization of antimicrobial drugs, expressed as DDD/1000 inhibitants/day, was 19 in Kuwait and 15 in Sweden. Aminoglycosides, tetracyclines and trimethoprim/sulphonamide were used more in Kuwait than in Sweden. The utilization of cephalosporins, however, was more prevalent in Sweden than in Kuwait. Hospital use of aminoglycosides was more pronounced in Kuwait than in Sweden, whereas trimethoprim/sulphonamide was less utilized in Kuwait. The overall consumption of antimicrobial drugs expressed as DDD/500 hospital beds, was highest in one of the Swedish hospitals where, for example, the consumption of tetracyclines was 15-fold higher than that in the comparable Kuwaiti hospital. Regarding bacterial resistance patterns, the large use of aminoglycosides and ampicillin was reflected in a higher resistance frequency among the Kuwaiti isolates. Resistance frequencies for trimethoprim/sulphonamide was also relatively much higher in Kuwait than in Sweden. In this case there was, however, no simple correlation to utilization figures, which are lower for the Kuwaiti hospital than for the Swedish. Resistance to chloramphenicol was prevalent in both countries, in spite of the very limited use of this drug.