Systemic antifungal drug use in Belgium—One of the biggest antifungal consumers in Europe

Background: Reports on the consumption of systemic antifungal drugs on a national level are scarce although of high interest to compare trends and the associated epidemiology in other countries and to assess the need for antifungal stewardship programmes. Objectives: To estimate patterns of Belgian inpatient and outpatient antifungal use and provide reference data for other countries. Methods: Consumption records of antifungals were collected in Belgian hospitals between 2003 and 2016. Primary healthcare data were available for the azoles for the period 2010-2016. Results: The majority of the... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Goemaere, Berdieke
Lagrou, Katrien
Spriet, Isabel
Hendrickx, Marijke
Vandael, Eline
Becker, Pierre
Catry, Boudewijn
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
Schlagwörter: Pathologie maladies infectieuses / Dermatologie / antifungal agents / hospital / prescription rates / primary care / public health / surveillance
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26600688
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/287309

Background: Reports on the consumption of systemic antifungal drugs on a national level are scarce although of high interest to compare trends and the associated epidemiology in other countries and to assess the need for antifungal stewardship programmes. Objectives: To estimate patterns of Belgian inpatient and outpatient antifungal use and provide reference data for other countries. Methods: Consumption records of antifungals were collected in Belgian hospitals between 2003 and 2016. Primary healthcare data were available for the azoles for the period 2010-2016. Results: The majority of the antifungal consumption resulted from prescriptions of fluconazole and itraconazole in the ambulatory care while hospitals were responsible for only 6.4% of the total national consumption and echinocandin use was limited. The annual average antifungal consumption in hospitals decreased significantly by nearly 25% between 2003 and 2016, due to a decrease solely in non-university hospitals. With the exception of specialised burn centres, antifungals are mostly consumed at ICUs and internal medicine wards. A significant decline was also observed in the consumption of azoles in primary health care, attributed to itraconazole. The major part of azoles was prescribed by generalists followed by dermatologists. Conclusions: In spite of the downward trend in annual use of systemic antifungal drugs, Belgium remains one of the biggest consumers in Europe. ; SCOPUS: ar.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published