Antibiotic Utilization in a Healthcare Resource Limited Setting of South India

Background: The “more-is-better” antibiotic prescribing philosophy contributes to suffering and mortality in children, along with resistance. Limited data on antibiotic usage in pediatric populations in India underscores the need for pharmaco surveillance measures. Aim and Objectives: The descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in the pediatric outpatient department dispensing pharmacy of a rural secondary care referral hospital in south India, to investigate the antibiotic prescribing pattern and its utilisation. Materials and Methods: The six-month study approved by the ethics committee was performed in the pediatric outpatient department dispensing pharmacy and included patient prescriptions of infants and children between 1 month and 12 years of age of both genders, diagnosed with infections and prescribed antibiotics. Patient information, including health status, antibiotic details and prescription trends, was collected with consent. Antibiotic prescribing pattern and their use were investigated with the help of World Health Organisation access, watch, reserve antibiotics and core prescribing indicators. Results: Among 120 pediatric prescriptions, cephalosporins (48.09%) were the most prescribed antibiotic followed closely by penicillins and macrolides, among which ceftriaxone (33.59%) was highly used. Antibiotics prescribed were in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards of optimal value. In addition, the access to watch index was observed to be less than 1, with 48.09% watch category of antibiotics. Conclusion: In conclusion, pediatric antibiotic prescribing and utilisation were adequately studied which found notable discrepancies, with the access to watch index being less than 1. Therefore, it is crucial to implement pediatric antibiotic stewardship programs to address the negative effects of improper antibiotic use.