Antibiotic use in German intensive care units

Abstract number: 1733_604

Meyer E., Schwab F., Gastmeier P., Rueden H., Jonas D.

Objective: To analyse antibiotic use in German ICUs participating in the project SARI (Surveillance of Antimicrobial use and antimicrobial Resistance in German Intensive Care Units).

Methods: Antibiotic use density (AD) was calculated in defined daily doses (DDD)/1000 patient days. DDDs according to the WHO in 2006 include 81 single antibiotics and 25 antibiotic groups.

Results: In 2005 mean AD was 1282 DDD/1000 pd in 43 ICUs. AD ranged from 559 to 2409. The top 3 antibiotic groups used were quinolones, the fixed combination of penicillins with lactamase inhibitor and 3rd generation cephalosporins (AD 165, 150 and 110, respectively); The top 3 single antibiotics were ciprofloxacin, cefuroxim and ampicillin-sulbactam (114, 89 and 74, respectively). The median of single antibiotics used was 27 (range 13–21). This did not differ by type or size (>1000 beds) of hospital or by type of ICU. Antibiotic use did not change significantly from 2000–2002 to 2002–2005 with the exception of a switch from the fixed combination penicillins with lactamase inhibitor to the free combination.

Conclusion: Antibiotic use in German ICUs is highly heterogeneous, but does not differ by type or size of hospital. Quinolones are the antibiotic group with the highest use.