In 2020, the overall consumption of antibiotics in Italy was 17.7 doses per thousand inhabitants per day, with “a sharp reduction compared to 2019“, equal to -18.2%. In all the months of 2020, consumption was lower than in 2019, but the decline was more evident in the period April-June (characterized by the lockdown) and in December (the month in which movements between regions were blocked) . Children between the ages of 2 and 5 receive the most, in which about one in 3 receives at least one antibiotic prescription during the year, and those over 85. These are some of the data that emerge from the 2020 National Report on Use of antibiotics in Italy, presented today by the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa).
In 2020, about 3 out of 10 citizens received at least one prescription for antibiotics and on average each patient was treated for about 14 days during the year, with a prevalence of use increasing with age, exceeding 50% in the over 85 population. In addition to the elderly, large consumers of antibiotics are the smallest: in 2020 26.2% of the Italian population up to the age of 13 received at least one prescription for antibiotics, with an average of 2 packs for each child treated: in 2019 it was 40.9%.
With 692.1 million euros, antibiotics represented 3% of the expenditure borne by the National Health Service. Whether it was antibiotics sold in pharmacies under an agreed assistance regime or those purchased by hospitals, almost 80% of the total doses were provided by public health, (-21.7% compared to 2019).
The use of the antibiotic azithromycin, used during the first year of the pandemic for Covid patients, saw a surge in 2020 and in particular in the first half, with consumption shot up especially for purchases by hospitals in Northern Italy, but it has since declined. So much so that, in the first half of 2021, consumption recorded “a downward trend compared to the same period of 2020”. This is what emerges from the 2020 National Report on the Use of Antibiotics in Italy, presented today by the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa).
As previously pointed out by Aifa, for direct purchases (i.e. hospital pharmaceutical expenditure) in the first half of 2020 there were significant increases in the use of azithromycin compared to the same period of the previous year, higher in the North (+ 192% ) and in the South (+ 145.6%) compared to the Center (+ 69.1%), to which are added those recorded in the second half of 2020.
In the context of the agreed assistance, azithromycin is the only active ingredient, together with fosfomycin, for which the overall consumption in 2020 did not decrease compared to 2019. The analysis of private purchase showed an increase of 33.3% compared to 2019. The increase in consumption of azithromycin, “can be explained by the fact that in the early stages of the epidemic some evidence reported its action in modulating the inflammatory response in patients with inflammatory lung diseases”. Starting from 9 April 2020, Aifa, after evaluating the available evidence, established that the use of this antibiotic for indications other than those registered “had to be considered exclusively in the context of randomized clinical trials and in the event of any bacterial overlap. “.
(ANSA).