Original research
Figure 1 Percentage of antibiotic prescriptions according to the Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRe) classification from January 2019 to June 2022, stratified by patient sex.
reassuringly low, and no noteworthy increases were seen over the study period. Recently reported UK hospital antibiotic consumption according to AWaRe classification, using aggregated data, found Access prescribing in Scotland was 62.4% in 2021, broadly agreeing with this study. 10 Although a number of studies 11–13 reported high antibiotic usage in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the Watch class, we did not see a spike in the proportion of these drugs in Scotland during Q1 and Q2 of 2020. Conversely, our results showed decreasing trends in the Watch class, including a decrease in these antibiotics prescribed
was significant in >65year-olds (p<0.05), likewise in both male (p<0.05) and female patients (p<0.05).
DISCUSSION This is the first national, patient-level antibiotic utilisation study in hospitalised patients in Scotland. Hospital antibiotic use in Scotland appeared to be at expected levels, with Access antibiotic use highest of the three classes and positive trends developing. Importantly, findings indicate hospitals were meeting the Scottish government national standard on antibiotic use of >60% of total antibiotic prescribing being from the Access class. Reserve antibiotic use was
Figure 2 Percentage of antibiotic prescriptions according to the Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRe) classification from January 2019 to June 2022, stratified by patient age group.
Proud E, et al . Eur J Hosp Pharm 2024; 0 :1–4. doi:10.1136/ejhpharm-2023-003874
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