ArticleThe Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy2025
Monitoring community antibiotic consumption in Belgium: reimbursement versus retail data (2013-22).
Article in The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trends in hospital antibacterial consumption: a retrospective analysis of reimbursement data, Belgium 2017 to 2022.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Trends in antibiotic dispensing for children in Belgian ambulatory care: time series analysis before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- Antibiotic consumption patterns in older adults: a comparative study of people 65 years and older in and outside nursing homes, Belgium, 2016 to 2022.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesIn Belgium, monitoring antibiotic consumption relies on reimbursement data, which is obtained with a time delay and does not account for over-the-counter or nonreimbursed products. This study aims to bridge this gap by comparing reimbursement and retail data for primary care to understand variations and assess the accuracy of current surveillance methods.
methodReimbursement data were obtained from the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance, and retail data were obtained from IQVIA for the period 2013-22. The community consumption of systemic antibiotics was expressed in defined daily doses (DDD-WHO ATC/DDD Index 2023) per inhabitants per day (DID). Relative differences in DID (RDs) based on the two data sets were computed and validated through Bland-Altman plots and correlation analysis.
resultsThe sales of antibiotics declined from 22.89 DID (2013) to 20.50 (2022), with a steep drop during the COVID-19 pandemic-from 21.31 DID in 2019 to 16.55 DID in 2020-and a subsequent rebound. Reimbursement data slightly underestimated consumption compared to retail data, with RDs ranging from 2% (2013) to 9% (2022) when including quinolones and from 2% to 4% when excluding them. Bland-Altman plots showed high agreement between reimbursement and retail estimates, identifying quinolones as outliers.
conclusionOur findings suggest that reimbursement data are generally reliable for monitoring antibiotic consumption, but incorporating retail data is crucial for accurate assessments. The use of retail data can facilitate timely interventions and inform public health strategies to effectively address antimicrobial resistance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.