Summary
Background
Indiscriminate use of antimicrobials in neonatal sepsis treatment contributes to consumption
misuse, and the optimization of prescription programmes is encouraged as a way of
reducing this inappropriate use.
Aim
To evaluate the impact of intervention programmes for adequate antimicrobial use (antimicrobial
stewardship programmes) in consumption measurements of such drugs in neonatology.
Methods
The search for articles was performed in electronic databases and by manual search
for citations in publications initially identified. Electronic databases searched
were BVS (Virtual Health Library), Cochrane Library, Embase, MEDLINE/PubMed, SciELO,
Scopus, and Web of Science. There was no date or period limit for inclusion of articles.
The PICO question was defined as populations of neonates admitted to neonatal intensive
care units undergoing an intervention programme to optimize antimicrobial therapy
in relation to neonates not exposed to the programme and the outcome obtained in antimicrobials
consumption.
Findings
The initial search in databases resulted in 1223 articles. Articles were screened
and 16 original studies related to subject were selected, which conducted a quantitative
approach to antimicrobials consumption for the population of interest. Most articles
used days of therapy (DOT) as the main measure of antimicrobial consumption and have
had a high-quality rating by Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. All studies were carried out
in local hospitals at a single centre and most were in high-income countries.
Conclusion
Of all studies identified by the search, few evaluated antimicrobial consumption in
neonatology. New studies are needed, and DOT was shown to be the most adequate metric
to measure consumption.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 21, 2023
Accepted:
March 11,
2023
Received:
December 22,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
