Three years of antibacterial consumption in Indonesian Community Health Centers: The application of anatomical therapeutic chemical/defined daily doses and drug utilization 90% method to monitor antibacterial use

Context: Irrational use of antibacterial drugs in Community Health-Care Centers (CHCs) may lead to increased resistance, morbidity, and mortality.

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine patterns of antibacterial use at CHCs in a district of Indonesia and use this as data for an antibiotic policy.

Settings and design: The observational-descriptive study was conducted in a district of Indonesia to obtain antibacterial use from 2008 to 2010.

Subjects and methods: The data obtained from the report on the use of medicines were classified and processed using the anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) and defined daily doses (DDD) method, with DDD/1000 patients as a unit measurement. The number of patients was obtained from attending patients in that research period. The most abundant antibacterial drugs use segment was identified by the drug utilization 90% (DU90%) method.

Statistical analysis used: Descriptive analysis were performed in this study.

Results: Fourteen kinds of antibacterial drugs were used in 61 CHCs. The total of antibacterial drug use during the period 2008-2010 was 871.36 DDD/1000 patients/day. Declining antibacterial use was observed between 2008 and 2010. Six kinds of antibacterial drugs were the most commonly used. The data show that the average use per visit was as high as 24.41 DDD.

Conclusions: Amoxicillin, sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim are antibacterials that have to be reconsidered by physicians for use in the Bandung CHC. The high use of antibacterial drugs, as described in the study, can be used as reference to develop an antimicrobial stewardship program and increase awareness of resistance, adverse drug reaction and drug interaction of antibacterial drugs.