Restriction on antimicrobial dispensing without prescription on a national level: Impact on the overall antimicrobial utilization in the community pharmacies in Saudi Arabia.

Autor: Al-Jedai AH; Therapeutic Affairs Deputyship, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.; Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Almogbel Y; Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia., Eljaaly K; Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia., Alqahtani NM; Riyadh First Health Cluster, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.; Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Almudaiheem HY; Therapeutic Affairs Deputyship, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Awad N; Real World Evidence, IQVIA, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Alissa DA; Therapeutic Affairs Deputyship, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Assiri A; Assistant Deputy Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Alaama T; Therapeutic Affairs Deputyship, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2022 Jul 26; Vol. 17 (7), pp. e0271188. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jul 26 (Print Publication: 2022).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271188
Abstrakt: Background: High rates of non-prescription dispensing of antimicrobials have led to a significant increase in the antimicrobial overuse and misuse in Saudi Arabia (SA). The objective of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial utilization following the enforcement of a new prescription-only antimicrobial dispensing policy in the community pharmacy setting in SA.
Methods: Data were extracted from the IQVIA database between May 2017 and May 2019. The antimicrobial utilization rates, based on sales, defined daily dose in grams (DDD), DDD/1000 inhabitants/day (DID), and antimicrobial-claims for the pre-policy (May 2017 to April 2018) and post-policy (June 2018 to May 2019) periods were assessed.
Results: Overall antimicrobial utilization declined slightly (~9-10%) in the post-policy versus pre-policy period (sales, 31,334 versus 34,492 thousand units; DDD, 183,134 versus 202,936), with higher claims (~16%) after policy implementation. There was a sudden drop in the utilization rate immediately after policy enforcement; however, the values increased subsequently, closely matching the pre-policy values. Utilization patterns were similar in both periods; penicillin was the most used antimicrobial (sales: 11,648-14,700-thousand units; DDD: 71,038-91,227; DID: 2.88-3.78). For both periods, the highest dip in utilization was observed in July (sales: 1,027-1,559 thousand units; DDD: 6,194-9,399), while the highest spike was in March/October (sales: 3,346-3,884 thousand units; DDD: 22,329-19,453).
Conclusion: Non-prescription antimicrobial utilization reduced minimally following policy implementation in the community pharmacies across SA. Effective implementation of prescription-only regulations is necessary.
Competing Interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests. Ahmed Hamdan Al-Jedai, Nasser M. Alqahtani, Dema Abdulrahman Alissa, Abdullah Assiri, Tareef Alaama and Hajer Yousef Almudaiheem are employees of Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Nancy Awad is an employee of IQVIA, UAE. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. These competing interests of the authors does not alter their adherence to PLOS One policies on sharing data and materials.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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