ArticleBMJ open2016
Using a simple point-prevalence survey to define appropriate antibiotic prescribing in hospitalised children across the UK.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed.
- Drivers influencing antibiotics use in pediatric wards across five public hospitals in Zanzibar: a WHO multiple point prevalence survey.Frontiers in antibiotics · 2026Article
- The impact of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic treatment on treatment duration and hospital costs in children-balancing benefits and burdens.Translational pediatrics · 2025Article
- Point prevalence survey of antibiotics in a pediatric tertiary hospital in the Republic of Panama.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2025Article
- High Prevalence of Antimicrobial Prescribing Among Public Health Facilities in Central Uganda: Findings from Point Prevalence Survey.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
- Article
- Antibiotic use in pediatric acute care hospitals: an analysis of antibiotic consumption data from Germany, 2013-2020.Infection · 2024Article
- Five-Year Evaluation of the PROA-NEN Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in a Spanish Tertiary Hospital.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Antimicrobial resistance control activities at a tertiary hospital in a low-resource setting: an example of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Malawi.Frontiers in antibiotics · 2023Article
- Quality indicators for appropriate antibiotic prescribing in urinary tract infections in children.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Review
- Use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in children diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporarily associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Poland: the MOIS-CoR study.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2022Article
- Antibiotic use in children before, during and after hospitalisation.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2022Article
- Antimicrobial Use in Pediatric Oncology and Hematology: Protocol for a Multicenter Point-Prevalence Study With Qualitative Expert Panel Assessment.JMIR research protocols · 2022Article
- A Point Prevalence Survey of Antimicrobial Usage in New Brunswick Hospitals.The Canadian journal of hospital pharmacy · 2022Article
- Article
- Paediatric Common Infections Pathways: improving antimicrobial stewardship and promoting ambulation for children presenting with common infections to hospitals in the UK and Ireland.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2021Article
- Use of multiple metrics to assess antibiotic use in Italian children's hospitals.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Retrospective audit of antibiotic use in a university general pediatrics department using hospital pharmacy dispensing data.GMS infectious diseases · 2021Article
- Antimicrobial use across six referral hospitals in Tanzania: a point prevalence survey.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Assessment of antimicrobial use and prescribing practices among pediatric inpatients in Zimbabwe.Journal of chemotherapy (Florence, Italy) · 2020Article
- Analysis of antibiotic treatment of children in a Shanghai tertiary hospital based on point prevalence surveys.BMC infectious diseases · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe National Health Service England, Commissioning for Quality and Innovation for Antimicrobial Resistance (CQUIN AMR) aims to reduce the total antibiotic consumption and the use of certain broad-spectrum antibiotics in secondary care. However, robust baseline antibiotic use data are lacking for hospitalised children. In this study, we aim to describe, compare and explain the prescription patterns of antibiotics within and between paediatric units in the UK and to provide a baseline for antibiotic prescribing for future improvement using CQUIN AMR guidance.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study using a point prevalence survey (PPS) in 61 paediatric units across the UK. The standardised study protocol from the Antibiotic Resistance and Prescribing in European Children (ARPEC) project was used. All inpatients under 18 years of age present in the participating hospital on the day of the study were included except neonates.
resultsA total of 1247 (40.9%) of 3047 children hospitalised on the day of the PPS were on antibiotics. The proportion of children receiving antibiotics showed a wide variation between both district general and tertiary hospitals, with 36.4% ( 95% CI 33.4% to 39.4%) and 43.0% (95% CI 40.9% to 45.1%) of children prescribed antibiotics, respectively. About a quarter of children on antibiotic therapy received either a medical or surgical prophylaxis with parenteral administration being the main prescribed route for antibiotics (>60% of the prescriptions for both types of hospitals). General paediatrics units were surprisingly high prescribers of critical broad-spectrum antibiotics, that is, carbapenems and piperacillin-tazobactam.
conclusionsWe provide a robust baseline for antibiotic prescribing in hospitalised children in relation to current national stewardship efforts in the UK. Repeated PPS with further linkage to resistance data needs to be part of the antibiotic stewardship strategy to tackle the issue of suboptimal antibiotic use in hospitalised children.
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