Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Liquid antimicrobials: a national analysis of critical shortages
  1. Nikolaus Riesenhuber1,
  2. Maxine Krauss1,
  3. Korinna Moßburger1,
  4. Christina Gradwohl1,2,
  5. Gunar Stemer1
  1. 1Pharmacy Service, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  2. 2St. Anna Children's Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  1. Correspondence to Nikolaus Riesenhuber, Pharmacy Service, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; nikolaus.riesenhuber{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Medicine shortages, especially those involving antibiotics, pose a global public health dilemma that can lead to adverse health outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the supply situation of various antimicrobials in liquid dosage forms, which represent the mainstay of therapy for paediatric infections. The availability was examined over a period of 27 weeks in Austria. During the time period investigated, 34 products (81.0%) were not available for over 50% of the time; eight of those (19.0%) experienced complete unavailability. Only four products (9.5%) demonstrated continuous availability. Regarding penicillin antibiotics, amoxicillin was not available for 77.8% of the time (21 weeks) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid for 59.3% (16 weeks). Regular monitoring of availability status can help mitigate this issue; however, cross-national strategies are urgently needed to guarantee a constant supply in the future.

  • PEDIATRICS
  • Drug Substitution
  • EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE
  • Organization and Administration
  • PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS
  • Quality Assurance, Health Care
  • Quality of Health Care
  • Safety
  • PUBLIC HEALTH

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.