The treatment of ailments among paediatric patients with antibiotics significantly affects treating microbial infections but may also produce any type of adverse effects to children. The use of empirical antibiotics may also lead to the development of antibiotic resistance in children1. The study aimed to assess the pattern of antibiotic utilization among the paediatric inpatients. It was a retrospective, observational study for a period of 12 months. The collected data included age, sex, diagnosis, duration of hospital stay, prescribed antibiotics, route of administration, co-administered drugs. Data were entered into a computer, and descriptive statistical analysis was done using SPSS. Bed Head Tickets(BHTs) of 265 inpatients were examined. The common diagnosis were CNS infection i,e 25;21.55%), Respiratory diseases i,e (50;43.10%) and Preterm with Sepsis i,e (14;12.06%) respectively. The maximum number of patients who received antibiotic prescriptions was in the age group between 0 to 1 month i,e (49;42%). The most common antibiotic used was Beta-lactam i,e (86;74.13%) Meropenem (6.66%) followed by Cephalosporin (36.2%), Polypeptides (29.3%), Aminoglycosides (19%) and Macrolides (13.8%). 65(56.03%) of patients received single antibiotics and 49(42.27%) received multiple antibiotics. The average duration of hospital stay was 5.72±4.8 days. The prescription pattern of the antibiotics among the inpatient is not under the aims and objective of the antibiotic stewardship program i,e there is a lot of chance on irrational prescription without microbial investigation like culture and sensitivity. Moreover, the number of case for a period of 12 months is not on the target of tertiary care hospital like Shija Hospital and Research Institute (SHRI). It may be due to the admission or treatment of special and serious cases only.

REFERENCES

1.          Devi LJ, Valte V, Joychandra O. A study of antibiotic used in paediatric inpatients at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Manipur: a retrospective study. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2020 Apr;9(4):595-9. doi: 10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20201183.

2.          Moorthi C, Paul PR, Srinivasan A, Senthil CK. Irrational use of antibiotics in paediatric prescriptions: A pilot study at community pharmacy in Erode City. Pharm Lett. 2011;3(3):171-7.

3.          Palikhe N. Prescribing pattern of antibiotics in paediatric drug prescribing in a regional hospital in Trinidad Journal of Chinese. Clin Med. 2010;5(30):5(3):157.

4.          Fleming_ Dutra KE, Hersh AL, Shapiro DJ, Bartoces M, Enns EA, File TM JR et al. Prevalence of inappropriate antibiotics prescriptions among us ambulatory care visits, 2010-2011. JAMA. 2016;315:1864-73.

5.          Arroll B, kenealy T. Antibiotics for the common cold and acute purulent rhinitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Jul 20;3(3):CD000247. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD000247.pub2, PMID 16034850.

6.          Levy-Hara G, Amabile-Cuevas CF, Gould I, Hutchinson J, Abbo Ll SL, Vlieghe E et al. ”Ten commandments” for the appropriate use of antibiotics by the practicing physician in an oupatient setting. Front Microb. 2011;2(v).

7.          Choe YJ, Shin JY. Trends in the use of antibiotics among Korean children. Korean J Pediatr. 2019;62(4):113-8. doi: 10.3345/kjp.2018.07290, PMID 30852884.

8.          Patel SV, Vergnano S. the impact of Paediatric antimicrobial stewardship programmes on patient outcomes. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2018;31(3):216-23. doi: 10.1097/QCO.0000000000000449, PMID 29570494.

9.          World Health Organization. How to investigate drug use in health facilities; selected drug use indicators. On. Aug 22, 2022.

10.        Koopmans LR, Finlayson H, Whitelaw A, Decloedt EH, Dramowski A. Paediatric antimicrobial use at a South African hospital. Int J Infect Dis. 2018;74:16-23. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2018.05.020, PMID 29935284.

11.        Lam TP, Chan TH, Sun KS, Lam KF, Kwok KW, Ho PL. antibiotic prescriptions by medical interns in Hong Kong: influence of the hospital settings and prescription culture. Postgrad Med J[[internet].2020;1-8. Available from:doi. doi: 10.1136/postgeadmedj-2020-138414.

12.        Aidara-Kane, Angulo FJ, Conly JM, Minato Y, Silbergerld EK, McEwen SA et al. World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on use of medically important antimicrobials in foodproducing animals. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2018;7(7):1-8.

13.        Dyar OJ, Huttner B, Schouten J, Pulcini C, on behalf of ESGAP. What is antimicrobial stewardship Clin microbiol. Infvrt. 2017;23(11):793-8.

14.        Chaw PS, Schlinkmann KM, Raupach-Rosin H, Karch A, Pletz MW, Huebner J et al. Antibiotic use on Paediatric inpatients in a teaching hospital in the Gambia, a retrospective study. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2018;7:82. doi: 10.1186/s13756-018-0380-7, PMID 30026940.

15.        Mustafa ZUI, Salman M, naeem A, Asif Noman, Hussain K, Shehzadi N et al. Antibiotic use among hospitalized children with lower respiratory tract infections: a multicentre, retroapective study from Punjab, Pakistan. Expert Rev Anti-Infect Ther. 2022;20(1):131-6.

16.        Kebede HK, Gesesew HA, Woldehaimanot TE, Goro KK. Antimicrobial use in paediatric patients in a teaching hospital in Ethiopia Ethiopia.2017. PLOS ONE. 2017;12(3):e0173290. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173290, PMID 28264021.

17.        Mathew R, Sayyed H, Behera S, Maleki K, Pawar S.

18.        Shivalleela D, Jagadeesh DK. vedavathi D, Chindanand D. A study of prescription pattern of antibiotics in paediatric inpatients of Megan teaching Hospital Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences(SIMS). Shivanagga, Karnataka.2014.

19.        Alemnew G, Atnafe SA. Assessment of the pattern of antibiotics use in paediatrics ward of Dessie Referral Hospital, North East, Ethiopia. Int J Med Sci. 2015 (Jan);7(11):1-7.

20.        Buendia JA, Feliciano-Alfonso J. Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing fofr acute bronchiolitis in Colombia: a predictive model. J of Pharm Policy and.

21.        Pradeepkumar B, Alameri T, Narayana G, Reddy YP, Ramaiah JD. Assessment of antibiotic prescribing pattern in paediatric patients: A cross sectional hospital based survey. CHRISMED J Health Res. 2017;4(4):235. doi: 10.4103/cjhr.cjhr_52_17.

22.        Mukherjee S, Sen S, Era N, Biswas A, Datta K, Tripathi SK. Antibiotic usage pattern among inpatients of a paediatric ward in a tertiary care hospital in eastern India. Int J Res Med Sci. 2015;3:3681-6. doi: 10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20151422.

23.        Mainous III AG, Hueston WJ, Davis MP, Pearson WS. Trends in antimicrobial prescribing for bronchitis and upper respiratory infections among adults and children. Am J Public Health. 2003;93(11):1910-4. doi: 10.2105/ajph.93.11.1910, PMID 14600065.

24.        Da Cunha A, Amaral J, Silva MA. Inappropriate antibiotic prescription to children with acute respiratory infection in Brazil. Ind Pediatr. 2003;40:7-12.

25.        Alakhali KM, Mohammad AAS. Prescribing Pattern of antibiotics in Psediatric patients in the Jazan Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. RGUHS J Pharm Sci. 2014;4(3):120-4. doi: 10.5530/rjps.2014.3.6.

26.        Choudhury D, Deka A, Roy D. Pattern of antibiotics used in the pediatric Indoor Department at Silchar Medical College and Hospital, Assam, India. Sch. J. App. Med Sci. 2015;3(4C):1810-4.

27.        Al-Ghazali MAA, Alakhali KM, Alawdi SM. Study of antibiotics prescribing pattern in paediatric patients of Thamar Province, in Republic of Yemen. J Appl Pharm. 2017;9:247.

28.        Jangra S, Bhyan B, Chand W, Saji J, Ghoghari R. To assess prescribing pattern of antibiotics in department of paediatric at tertiary care teaching hospital. J Drug Deliv Ther. 2019;9(2):192-6. doi: 10.22270/jddt.v9i2.2402.

29.        Srivastava SK. how to prevent antimicrobial drug resistance. Pharmacology for MBBS AVICHAL publishing company; 2017. p. 626-7.

30.        Prajabati VD, Bhatt JD. Study of prescribing patterns of antimicrobial agents in the paediatric wards at tertiary teaching care hospital, Gujarat. IJPSR. 2012;3(7):2348-55.

31.        Mishra S, Srivastava P, Sunder S, Mishra AK, Tanti SK. Evaluation of optimization of antibiotic usage in upper respiratory tract infections in children at a tertiary care outpatient dept: a clinical audit. Indian J Pharmacol. 2022;54(1):13-8. doi: 10.4103/ijp.ijp_373_21.