Background

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) have been shown to improve the appropriate use of antimicrobials, especially in high-income countries. However, ASPs are relatively less well implemented in low-or-middle income countries. To improve the effectiveness of ASPs in these settings, it is important to determine the core actions and targets for improving antimicrobial use. We sought to describe the prevalence and patterns of antibiotic use at a tertiary care hospital in Tanzania.

Methods

Consecutive patients admitted to an adult medical ward at a tertiary care hospital, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, in Moshi, Tanzania were enrolled from June 2018 to March 2019. The medical record was reviewed for data regarding the type of antibiotics prescribed, indications for use, and microbiologic testing ordered.

Results

A total of 1103 patients were enrolled during the study period. The majority of patients were males (663, 60.1%), with the median age being 54 years (IQR 39–70). About one-third (390, 35.4%) of the admitted patients received antimicrobials during hospitalization, with pneumonia being the leading indication for antimicrobial use (158, 40.5%). The most commonly used antibiotics included ceftriaxone in 285 (73.1%), metronidazole in 155 (39.7%), and amoxicillin/ ampicillin in 46 (11.8%) patients. The median duration of antimicrobial use was 5 days (IQR 3–7). Few patients on antimicrobials (27, 6.9%) had culture results, of which half (15, 55.6%) were positive for an organism and a minority (8, 29.6%) were susceptible to the antibiotics being used. Overall, mortality in the cohort was 22.7% and the median duration of hospitalization was 5 days (IQR 3–8).

Conclusion

Antibiotics were used in a substantial proportion of admitted patients. However, in most cases, treatment was empirical with limited use of culture results. Future ASP efforts can target the improved use of microbiologic cultures to target antimicrobial use.