Wide variation in EU antibiotic use

The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy has published a study of antibiotic use in Europe aggregated at the national level over a five-year period (1997-2002). The study's authors gathered consumption data of antibiotics, which were collected and expressed in defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day. Data for 2002 were available for 15 European countries, and six-year trends for 10 nations. A comparison with ambulatory care consumption data was made for 14 countries.

In 2002, the study found that median national hospital antibiotic consumption in Europe was 2.1 DDD/1,000 inhabitants/day in Europe. This varied from 3.9 in Finland and France to 1.3 in Norway and Sweden. Hospital care consumption as a proportion of total antibiotic consumption ranged from 17.8% to 6.4%. The consumption of hospital-specific antibiotics ranged from 0.43 DDD/1,000 inhabitants/day in Greece and 0.08 in Sweden. Six-year trends in consumption were stable, except for market penetration of new antibiotics in some countries.