Application of ATC/DDD methodology to analyse antibiotic consumption in internal medicine department: A review

Background: Antibiotic resistance has become a significant problem due to its impact such as higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality. The Internal Medicine Ward has a high consumption of antibiotics, particularly for gastroenteritis, typhoid, diabetic ulcer, urinary tract infection, and sepsis. The DDD/ATC systems applied in hospitals may provide valid data to evaluate antimicrobial usage as a global standard method. Objective: To explore the antibiotic use pattern in the internal medicine department based on the DDD/ATC system. Method: The authors explored articles from the database in PMC, Research Gate, and Google Scholar from July 11st, 2020, to July 21st, 2020. The authors included original articles/research, case reports, and meta-analyses from 2006 to 2020, which discussed DDD/100 patient-days or DDD/100 bed-days antibiotics in the internal medicine ward. A major criterion was to ensure all subjects in publications were adults aged above 18. Result: Penicillin is the most consumed (127.9 DDD/100 bed-days), followed by Cephalosporin (41.42 DDD/100-bed-days) and Fluoroquinolone (25.87 DDD/100 bed-days). Conclusion: The most widespread antibiotic use in Internal Medicine in many countries showed an improvement in rational antibiotic consumption.