Assessment of Antibiotic Prescribing Pattern Using WHO Access, Watch, and Reserve Classification (AWaRe) at a Tertiary Care Centre of Northern India: A Cross-sectional Study
Introduction: Rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance has rendered the treatment of bacterial infections challenging. This is mainly attributed to irrational use of antibiotics. To address this, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRe) classification of an...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/20757/76248_CE[Ra1]_F(KR)_QC(SD_SS)_PF1(AG_IS)_PFA(IS)_PB(AG_IS)_PN(IS).pdf |
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| Summary: | Introduction: Rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance has rendered the treatment of bacterial infections challenging. This is mainly attributed to irrational use of antibiotics. To address this, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRe) classification of antibiotics as a tool for surveillance.
Aim: To evaluate the prescribing pattern of antibiotics at a tertiary care hospital and classify the antibiotic usage as per AWaRe classification.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted for one year (August 2021 - July 2022) across various outpatient departments. The prescriptions containing at least one antibiotic were analysed for the antibiotic prescribing pattern. Antibiotics were categorised into ‘Access’, ‘Watch’, ‘Reserve’, ‘Not recommended’ groups, in the whole population and in three age groups: children, adults and elderly. Access: Watch index was calculated. Descriptive analysis was performed to assess the pattern of antibiotic prescriptions.
Results: Of 800 prescriptions, 402 (50.2%) belonged to women and the mean age of the patients was found to be 32.03±8.45 years. A total of 1,090 antibiotics were prescribed, of which 48.34% were ‘Watch’ drugs, 40.64% were ‘Access’ drugs and 0.82% were from ‘Reserve’ group. 3.7% of antibiotics were not recommended by the WHO. Cefixime (J01DD08) was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic, accounting for 294 (27%) prescriptions, followed by amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (J01CR02) with 258 (23.7%) prescribed and ciprofloxacin (S02AA15) with 95 (8.7%) prescriptions. On average, 1.36 antibiotics were prescribed per patient. Access: Watch index was found to be 0.84.
Conclusion: The study found high use of ‘Watch’ antibiotics in general and across different age groups of children, adults and elderly. A lower Access: Watch index suggests the need for rational antibiotic prescribing to tackle the problem of resistance. |
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| ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |