ArticlePloS one2026
A socio-ecological System Dynamics model of antimicrobial use and resistance.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Antimicrobial resistance in the Northern Territory, Australia: insights from a systems thinking approach to human health.One health outlook · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The concept of resource extraction in the context of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rarely explored. In this framework, antimicrobial susceptibility is viewed as a finite resource that is depleted through the use of antimicrobials -thus, AMR represents the exhaustion of this resource. In this conceptual study, we examine the system dynamics of AMR using causal loop diagrams to define both the structure and behaviour of two variants of the system. We then evaluate the robustness of the System Dynamics models through sensitivity testing. The first model is inspired by a classic "Limits to Growth" structure, in which antimicrobial use practices depend on recent observations of treatment success or failure. The second differs by including AMR surveillance informing antimicrobial prescribing instead of anecdotal experience. The models consider one "bug-drug-mutation-context" combination at a time, but can be applied to different microbes, antimicrobials, and host populations in human or veterinary contexts. Multiparameter sensitivity analyses of relative fitness and timescale parameters were carried out on both model variants. Several key differences in model behaviour over time were observed between the socio-ecological Limits to Growth structure and the modified version in which human judgment, with its associated time lag, is bypassed. The models help explore the effects of human behaviour and associated time lags on patterns of population-level antimicrobial susceptibility over time, applying an established modelling technique in a novel context to generate new hypotheses - notably that plateaux in AMR observed in the field could be in part due to human behaviour rather than purely evolutionary forces. The framing of antimicrobial susceptibility as a variably renewable natural resource is valuable not only as an avenue for alternative modelling approaches, but also as a more collaborative framing for public and policy engagement to promote sustainable management of this common pool resource.
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.