Antibiotic prescribing
Dear Public Health England,
Please provide the following information:
How many antibiotics in total have been prescript in years 2017, 2018 and 2019 in the UK?
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Michaela Maselkova
OFFICIAL
Dear Michaela,
Thank you for your email of 03 March 2020 to Public Health England (PHE)
requesting a freedom of information in regards to antibiotic prescribing.
Freedom of Information Request: Total antibiotic prescription in the UK
(2017-2019)
1. Total antibiotic consumption in the UK
The UK submits antibiotic consumption data to the European Centre for
Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) via the European Surveillance of
Antimicrobial Consumption Network (ESAC-Net). Further information on
ESAC-Net is available on website:
[1]www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/antimicrobial-consumption.
PHE submits the national data for England and the devolved administrations
(Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) submit their national data
individually.
Data on total antibiotic consumption in the UK for both community and
hospital settings is currently available up to and including 2018 from the
ESAC-Net. The data call for 2019 has begun but the data will not be
available until European Antibiotic Awareness Day. Data is expressed as
Defined Daily Doses (DDDs) per 1,000 inhabitants per day. DDDs are
classified as in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical/Defined Daily Dose
(ATC/DDD) index 2019, assigned by the World Health Organisation (WHO)
Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology. Further information
is available on the website: [2]www.whocc.no/atc_ddd_index/
Table 1: Total consumption (community and hospital sector) of
antibacterials* in the UK, 2017-2019
Year
2017 2018 2019
DDD per 1,000 inhabitants per day 19.3 18.8 Not
available yet**
* Includes antibacterials for systemic use (ATC group J01)
** The data call for 2019 has begun but the data will not be available
until European Antibiotic Awareness Day
Source: ESAC-Net Antimicrobial consumption - Annual Epidemiological Report
for 2018
Available from:
[3]www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Antimicrobial-consumption-EU-EEA.pdf
2. Total antibiotic consumption in England
PHE's English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and
resistance (ESPAUR) has worked with the National Health Service and across
sectors, to improve surveillance and feedback of antimicrobial use to
raise awareness among healthcare professionals and the public of
antibiotic prescribing in adults and children. Information available from:
[4]www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-surveillance-programme-antimicrobial-utilisation-and-resistance-espaur-report.
Data on total (community and hospital) antibiotic consumption in England
is currently available up to and including 2018 from ESPAUR report
2018-19, expressed as Defined Daily Doses (DDDs). The data for 2019 is
currently being processed and not available yet until the publication of
ESPAUR 2019-20. Detailed information and methods are available from ESPAUR
report 2018-19 annexe.
Table 2: Total consumption (community and hospital) of antibacterials in
England, 2017-2019
Year
2017 2018 2019
DDD per 1,000 inhabitants per day 18.899 18.234 Not available
yet#
^ Includes antibacterials for systemic use (ATC group J01) and three
additional oral agents: fidaxomicin (A07AA12), metronidazole (P01AB01) and
vancomycin (A07AA09).
# The data for 2019 is currently being processed and not available yet
until the publication of ESPAUR report 2019 to 2020
Source: ESPAUR report 2018 to 2019: chapter 4 data tables
I hope this information is helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Elisha
Enquiries – Public Health England
Public Health England
[5]www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on [6]Twitter@PHE_uk
Protecting and improving the nation’s health
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