55% of patients given antibiotics only as a preventive measure, says survey
- Recently, the Health Ministry released the results of a survey conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control.
- The survey mapped the patients across 20 tertiary care institutes in 15 States and two UTs between November 2021 and April 2022.
Antibiotic Resistance Concerns
- Antimicrobial Resistance is the resistance acquired by any microorganisms against antimicrobial drugs that are used to treat infections.
- It occurs when a microorganism changes over time and no longer responds to medicines making infections harder to treat.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the top threats to public health.
- Excessive and inappropriate antibiotic use is a key driver of antibiotic resistance.
Key Findings
- Over 50% of nearly 10,000 surveyed hospital patients in India were prescribed antibiotics for prevention rather than treatment.
- 94% received antibiotics before a confirmed diagnosis, contributing to concerns about rising antibiotic resistance.
- About 3% of prescriptions were from the "not recommended" group.
Global Scenario
- WHO's global point prevalence survey methodology aims to understand the prescribing patterns in hospitals.
- It tries to address the limited information on how antibiotics are prescribed and used at the patient level.
- Few studies have been conducted in India using this methodology.
Hospital Disparities
- Wide variations among hospitals, ranging from prescribing antibiotics to 37% of patients to 100% in others.
- Overall, there were 12,342 antibiotic prescriptions, with 86.5% prescribed through the parenteral route i.e. not taken orally.
Antibiotic Classification as per WHO's Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe)
- Access
- Antibiotics used to treat the most common and serious infections.
- Only 38% of prescriptions were for Access group antibiotics, offering the best therapeutic value.
- Watch
- Antibiotics available at all times in the healthcare system.
- 57% were for Watch group antibiotics, with a higher potential for antibiotic resistance.
- Reserve
- Antibiotics to be used sparingly or preserved and used only as a last resort.
- Just 2% were from the "last resort" Reserve group.
Tracking AMR in India
- The NCDC is the nodal agency for India’s national programme on AMR containment.
- It monitors antibiotic usage through the National Antibiotic Consumption Network (NAC-NET) established by it.
- Through NAC-NET, the network sites compile data on antibiotic consumption in their respective health facilities and send it to NCDC.
Prelims Takeaway
- Antimicrobial Resistance
- Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRe)
- National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)