Antibiotic Consumption in Shandong Province, China: an Analysis of Provincial Pharmaceutical Centralized Bidding Procurement Data at Public Healthcare Institutions, 2012-16

Objectives: To explore the trends of antibiotic consumption in public healthcare institutions through analysing the provincial centralized bidding procurement (CBP) data in Shandong, China.

Methods: The Shandong CBP system has been established since 2011, covering public healthcare institutions of 500 secondary and tertiary hospitals, 600 urban primary healthcare centres (PHCs) and 1600 rural PHCs. We collected all the antibiotic procurement records from the CBP system between 2012 and 2016. Antibiotic consumption data were calculated using Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC)/DDD methodology and normalized using DDD per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID).

Results: Overall antibiotic consumption increased from 12.859 DID in 2012 to 15.802 DID in 2014, then decreased to 13.802 DID in 2016. The top three antibiotics consumed in 2016 were penicillins (4.251 DID), quinolones (2.957 DID) and macrolides (2.057 DID). PHCs consumed 80% of the total antibiotics, of which rural PHCs accounted for 88%. Antibiotic consumption peaked in 2014 for rural PHCs and in 2015 for hospitals, and declined thereafter. In urban PHCs, the consumption steadily increased from 2012 to 2016.

Conclusions: Zero mark-up drug policies and national policies to improve rational use of antibiotic were associated with the reduction of antibiotic consumption in public healthcare institutions in Shandong Province. Regulations for antibiotic use in PHCs should be strengthened.