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Reuters Health
Sales of antibiotics to outpatients vary widely, with a more than 4-fold difference
among the 15 countries in the European Union, report Dr Otto Cars and
colleagues from the Swedish Institute for Infectious Diseases Control,
Stockholm. In analyzing 1993 and 1997 data, they found that France had the
highest sales, followed by Spain, Portugal, and Belgium. The lowest sales were
in the Netherlands.
"We expected to see a variation, but the 4-fold difference between the EU
countries was unexpectedly high," Cars told Reuters Health. "The great
difference between neighboring countries, eg Belgium and the Netherlands, is
particularly interesting," he said.
In their report in the June 9th issue of The Lancet, Cars and his associates say
that the French used almost 37 daily antibiotic doses per 1000 people per day
in 1997, compared with just about 9 doses per 1000 people in the Netherlands
per day.
"Obviously, total antibiotic consumption is one major factor in driving
resistance," Cars said. "I do not think it is possible to reverse this process, but a
more judicious use of antibiotics could probably slow down the rate of
emergence of resistance."
Between 1993 and 1997, seven countries showed an increase in antibiotic sales
of less than 4%, but a dramatic increase was noted in Italy (34%) and
Luxembourg (12%), the researchers report. Sweden showed the greatest
decrease, a decline of 21%.
Broad-spectrum penicillin was the most commonly used antibiotic in 11 of the
15 countries, according to the researchers. Its sales varied between 56% of
total sales in Spain and 20% of total sales in Germany. The use of other types of
antibiotics also varied widely among countries.
Lancet 2001 |
