Antibiotic exposure among children younger than 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study of nationally representative facility-based and household-based surveys
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to global health. Although detailed information about antibiotic use in high-income countries is available, little is known regarding the use of antibiotics and cumulative exposure to antibiotics in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aimed to quantify antibiotic exposure in children younger than 5 years in LMICs.
METHODS
We did a cross-sectional study in sick children younger than 5 years who attended a health-care facility in eight LMICs (Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda) between May, 2006, and December, 2016. Demographic and Health Surveys were used to estimate the cumulative number of illnesses related to a fever or cough and the cumulative number of visits to a health-care facility because of these illnesses for each country. We also used clinical observation data from nationally representative health-care facility-based Service Provision Assessment (SPA) surveys to estimate the proportion of children who were prescribed an antibiotic during a visit to a health-care facility and the number of antibiotic prescriptions issued that were unrelated to fever or respiratory problems. By combining these estimates, and using bootstrap analysis to compute uncertainty intervals, we estimated cumulative antibiotic exposure in children from birth up to age 5 years in each LMIC.
FINDINGS
From SPA surveys, we identified 22 519 clinical observations of children younger than 5 years who…
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