Antibiotic defined daily dose in pediatrics. A single center study to proof the principle that a specific pediatric...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pharmacology
• Antimicrobial Stewardship
• Drug Utilization Research

Background:

• Accurate measurement of antibiotic consumption is crucial for antimicrobial stewardship.
• Pediatric Defined Daily Doses (PeDDD) are specific to pediatric populations, potentially complicating global comparisons.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) Defined Daily Dose (DDD) is a standard unit of measurement for drug consumption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of replacing the pediatric defined daily dose (PeDDD) with the WHO defined daily dose (DDD) for pediatric antibiotic consumption.
• To determine if DDD can be reliably used to measure vancomycin and meropenem usage in children.

Main Methods:

• Calculated PeDDD for vancomycin (40mg/kg) and meropenem (60mg/kg) using the 50th percentile of body weight for age in children admitted between 2016-2020.
• Determined PeDDD and DDD numbers based on quarterly drug delivery data from 2012-2016.
• Generated and compared consumption curves (parallelism and Area Under the Curve - AUC) for PeDDD and DDD.

Main Results:

• The calculated PeDDD was 2.6 times the DDD for both vancomycin and meropenem.
• Despite the quantitative difference, the consumption curves generated by PeDDD and DDD were parallel.
• The Area Under the Curve (AUC) for both measurement methods was identical.

Conclusions:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) defined daily dose (DDD) can be adopted for measuring antibiotic consumption in pediatric populations.
• A specific pediatric defined daily dose (PeDDD) may not be necessary, simplifying drug utilization studies and stewardship efforts.