The present study found that an average of 58.3% of patients was exposed to some antimicrobial. A large study carried out by Versporten [7], when evaluating the use of antimicrobials in patients admitted to adult hospitals in 53 countries, identified, in Latin America, the average use of 36.8%, ranging from 32.5–43.4%. However, the literature describes a broader range that extends from 22–76% of hospitalized patients receiving at least one antimicrobial during hospital stay [1, 4, 8, 9, 12]. Even though the result, observed here, is within the presented range, these studies demonstrate variations that may be related to the type of care provided in each hospital, where the need for antimicrobial indication may be higher or lower.
The greatest number of patients exposed to the use of antimicrobials was in the intensive care unit (86%), followed by pneumology/infectology (62%) and pediatrics (61%). The predominance of the use of ATMs in the ICU was also observed in a study of one-off prevalence on health-related infections in Austria, in which 67.9% of patients in this ward were exposed to some antimicrobial, other studies indicate variations from 55.1–57% [1, 4, 7]. Variations are also observed in the medical clinic (31.8% − 73.2%), and in the surgical clinic (37.3–84.1%) [1, 7, 8, 13]. The weak conditions with which patients arrive at the ICUs explain the greater frequency of infections and, consequently, the greater need for antibiotic therapy in this ward.
The 1st generation cephalosporins were the most prescribed classes and had longer use time at the surgical clinic (49.9%; 123 DOT / 1000pd) and in pediatrics (34.5%; 94 DOT / 1000pd); the medical clinic had a higher number of prescriptions referring to 3rd generation cephalosporins (14.7%), however the greatest exposure time was for quinolones (57 DOT / 1000pd); pneumology/infectology predominated the use of antifungals (16%) and longer use for sulfamethoxazole + trimethoprim (121 DOT / 1000pd). In the ICU, carbapenems (19.2%; 368 DOT / 1000pd) stood out both in the number of prescriptions and the time of use.
The use of 1st generation cephalosporins and quinolones in the hospital under study is mainly related to the extension of prophylaxis in surgeries, which requires a more critical look at their real need, considering that in early January 2019, European Medicines Agency released a report recommending the suspension and restriction of the use of some antibiotics, among them quinolones and fluoroquinolones, because of the serious, disabling and potentially permanent side effects that these drugs have presented. The literature also reports a significant correlation between the use of cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones with the increase in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae [14, 15].
A study conducted by Kimura [16], which evaluated the long-term effects of antibiotic administration programs at a university hospital in Japan, found that therapy days per 1000 patient-days were higher for 1st generation cephalosporins (45 DOT / 1000pd). The time of use of quinolones (4.7 DOT / 1000pd) and carbapenems (13.5 DOT / 1000pd) were well below the values verified in this study. However, studies show results ranging from 25.8 DOT / 1000pd to 132.3 DOT / 1000pd for quinolones and 8.7 DOT / 1000pd to 39.1 DOT / 1000pd for carbapenems [2, 9, 10], this variation may be related to the lack of uniformity in data collection, which implies the importance of standardizing the obtainment of these rates, allowing reliable comparability of the data.
In 376 days, for every 1000 days of hospitalization, patients were receiving antimicrobial therapy (LOT = 376/1000pd), with the longest time observed in the ICU (753 DOT / 1000pd), followed by pneumology/infectology (470 DOT / 1000pd). The LOT indicator is rarely found in the literature to express the use of antimicrobials, however, a study in the United States of America found an average LOT of 536 (median, 529; range, 427–684) per 1000 patient-days in 70 American hospitals [12], a value above that observed in this study. In addition to the gap in publications on the different monitoring measures for antimicrobial management programs, the lack of disclosure of monitoring strategies and measures in hospitals in low and middle-income countries stands out. A recent meta-analysis of 221 studies using clinical trials, interrupted time series, and other methods evaluated the effectiveness of antibiotic management programs, in which unfortunately few studies represent these countries [17].
The ICU and pneumology/infectology presented LOTs well above the overall hospital rate, reflecting the severity and frequency of community and hospital infections in patients assisted in these two wards, which require more frequent, intense, and longer antimicrobial therapy. The calculated global DOT / LOT ratio showed that each patient received an average of 1.5 antimicrobials during the hospital stay, with a higher number prescribed within the ICU (2 DOT / LOT). The literature points to similar values ranging from 1.3 to 2.1 antimicrobials per patient [4, 5, 8].
The surgical clinic and pediatrics pointed out surgical prophylaxis as the main diagnostic for the use of antimicrobials (80.8% and 36.2%, respectively), which is in line with the greater number of indications of 1st generation cephalosporins in these wards. Highlights for the prophylactic use of antimicrobials, as observed in this study, were reported by Talaam [5], in a rural hospital in western Kenya, where prophylaxis was responsible for 56.3% of antimicrobial indications. Gutema [8], documented that the prophylactic use of antimicrobials represented 41.3% in the prescriptions in the surgical clinic and 8.5% in the medical clinic.
Respiratory infections prevailed in the medical clinic and pneumology/infectology (22.4% and 39.1%, respectively), this data reflects the characteristics of the wards described, and corroborate with studies that describe that approximately 50% of the use of antimicrobials is used in the treatment of respiratory and urinary infections [4, 8, 9, 13]. In the ICU the main diagnostic indications were for the treatment of sepsis (34.1%). Sepsis is a serious public health problem in ICUs in Brazil, this pathology is the second leading cause of mortality within this environment. Empirical treatment with antibiotics is usually initiated with broad-spectrum drugs, such as carbapenems, observed in this study, possibly due to the number of multidrug-resistant strains isolated in these patients [18].
The strengths of this study include the prospective design with direct observation of the prescriptions, allowing a greater precision of the analysis regarding the use of antimicrobials. However, some limitations were noted. First, the study was conducted at a single center. Second, comorbidities have not been evaluated. Third, the adequacy of the prescriptions was not addressed. Fourth, no data were obtained on the prevalence of bacterial pathogens and their susceptibility patterns. Fifth, the analysis of temporal trends has not been carried out.