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A Novel Metric System to Quantify Antibiotic Consumption in Paediatric Population: A Hospital Based, Biphasic Pilot

Shah Newaz Ahmed1, Ratinder Jhaj1, Ritendra Patidar1

  • 1Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)
|December 28, 2020
PubMed

Insights

A new metric, DDD/1000 kg-days, standardizes antibiotic consumption in children. This system accounts for individual weight variations, enabling better comparisons across pediatric populations and informing healthcare policy.

Area of Science:

  • Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism
  • Pediatric Pharmacology
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • The World Health Organization's Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification / Defined Daily Dose (ATC/DDD) system is a global standard for drug consumption quantification.
  • However, the ATC/DDD system is not suitable for comparing drug use in pediatric populations due to significant individual variations in body weight.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a novel metric system for the standard quantification of antibiotic consumption specifically in pediatric populations.
  • To address the limitations of existing systems in accurately reflecting drug use in children of varying weights.

Main Methods:

  • A new unit, DDD/1000 kg-days (KD), was conceived, where KD accounts for patient body weight and length of hospital stay.
  • The proposed metric system was simulated using a computer model of five virtual pediatric hospitals.
  • The system's applicability was further validated using real-world data from two hospital-based time cohorts.

Main Results:

  • Simulations in virtual hospitals demonstrated varying antibiotic consumption rates when measured by DDD/100 patient days (PD) across different weight distributions.
  • The novel DDD/1000 kg-days metric provided more consistent and comparable antibiotic consumption values across the simulated pediatric populations.
  • Analysis of real-world cohorts confirmed the DDD/1000 kg-days metric's ability to standardize drug quantification irrespective of sample size and weight distribution.

Conclusions:

  • DDD/1000 kg-days offers a potential standardized unit for drug quantification in pediatric populations, independent of weight distribution and sample size.
  • This metric can facilitate universal comparisons, providing valuable data for resource allocation, antimicrobial stewardship, and policy decisions in pediatric healthcare.
  • The system aids in understanding disease burden and drug utilization, ultimately improving healthcare delivery for children.
Abstract

Keywords:
Drug utilisationantibiotic consumptiondefined daily dose.metric systempediatric

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