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Table 3 Indications of antimicrobials use and top 10 reasons to treat inpatients with at least one antibiotic for systemic use (J01), year 2015–2020

From: Effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on antimicrobial prevalence and prescribing in a tertiary hospital in Singapore

Year

2015

2017

2018

2019

2020

 

No. of antimicrobials

Type of indication

768

755

839

821

780

Community acquired infections

482 (63%)

353 (47%)

500 (60%)

487 (59%)

444 (57%)

Healthcare associated infection

227 (30%)

295 (39%)

245 (29%)

212 (26%)

247 (32%)

Medical prophylaxis

8 (1%)

30 (4%)

37 (4%)

35 (4%)

42 (5%)

Surgical prophylaxis

36 (5%)

34 (5%)

26 (3%)

26 (3%)

27 (4%)

Unknown indication

13 (2%)

39 (5%)

23 (3%)

28 (3%)

13 (2%)

Others (e.g. use as prokinetic)

2 (< 1%)

4 (1%)

8 (1%)

33 (4%)

7 (1%)

 

No. of patients

Top 10 diagnosis

550

504

562

550

501

Pneumonia or lower respiratory tract infection

184 (34%)

142 (29%)

144 (26%)

150 (27%)

144 (29%)

Skin and soft tissue infections†

81 (15%)

54 (11%)

61 (11%)

75 (14%)

66 (13%)

Intra-abdominal infections

54 (10%)

47 (9%)

55 (10%)

49 (9%)

44 (9%)

Upper urinary tract infections§

28 (5%)

14 (3%)

61 (11%)

48 (9%)

65 (13%)

Lower urinary tract infections (cystitis)

44 (8%)

58 (12%)

44 (8%)

36 (7%)

20 (4%)

Gastrointestinal infections

16 (3%)

23 (5%)

21 (4%)

24 (4%)

21 (4%)

Unknown

8 (2%)

36 (7%)

26 (5%)

21 (4%)

10 (2%)

Bone and joint infections**

12 (2%)

14 (3%)

19 (3%)

22 (4%)

17 (3%)

Acute Bronchitis or exacerbations of chronic bronchitis

10 (2%)

15 (3%)

17 (3%)

17 (3%)

6 (1%)

Sepsis††

19 (4%)

23 (5%)

12 (2%)

15 (3%)

8 (2%)

  1. Patients recorded with more than one diagnosis were counted by number of diagnoses
  2. Patients not treated with antibiotics for systemic use, but who were treated with other antimicrobials (e.g., antimalarials) were not included
  3. Includes cellulitis, wound infections (including surgical site infections), deep soft tissue infections not involving bone (e.g., infected pressure or diabetic ulcers, abscesses). ‡Includes intra-abdominal sepsis and hepatobiliary and intra-abdominal abscesses. §Includes catheter-related urinary tract infections and pyelonephritis
  4. **Includes septic arthritis (including prosthetic joints) and osteomyelitis
  5. ††Includes sepsis syndrome or septic shock with no clear anatomical site