• Appiah-Korang Labi, Noah Obeng-Nkrumah, Gifty Sunkwa-Mills, Antoinette Bediako-Bowan, Christiana Akufo, Stephanie Bjerrum, Enid Owusu, Christabel Enweronu-Laryea, Japheth Awuletey Opintan, Jorgen Anders Lindholm Kurtzhals, and Mercy Jemima Newman.
• Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Bmc Pediatr. 2018 Dec 20; 18 (1): 391.

BackgroundExcessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics in hospitalised patients contributes to the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. Implementing a stewardship programme to curb the problem requires information on antibiotic use. This study describes a multicentre point prevalence of antibiotic use among paediatric inpatients in Ghana.MethodsData were extracted from a multicentre point prevalence survey of hospital acquired infections in Ghana. Data were collected between September 2016 and December 2016 from ten hospitals through inpatient folder and chart reviews using European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) adapted data collection instrument. From each site, data were collected within a 12-h period (8 am to 8 pm) by a primary team of research investigators and a select group of health professionals from each participating hospital.ResultsAmong 716 paediatric inpatients, 506 (70.6%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 67.2 to 74.0%) were on antibiotics. A significant proportion of antibiotics (82.9%) was prescribed for infants compared to neonates (63.9%) and adolescents (60.0%). The majority of patients (n = 251, 49.6%) were prescribed two antibiotics at the time of the survey. The top five classes of antibiotics prescribed were third generation cephalosporins (n = 154, 18.5%) aminoglycosides (n = 149, 17.9%), second generation cephalosporins (n = 103,12.4%), beta lactam resistant penicillins (n = 83, 10.0%) and nitroimidazoles (n = 82, 9.9%). The majority of antibiotics (n = 508, 61.0%) were prescribed for community acquired infections. The top three agents for managing community acquired infections were ceftriaxone (n = 97, 19.1%), gentamicin (n = 85, 16.7%) and cefuroxime (n = 73, 14.4%).ConclusionThis study points to high use of antibiotics among paediatric inpatients in Ghana. Cephalosporin use may offer an important target for reduction through antibiotic stewardship programmes.

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