Regional variation in antibiotic use in children in Slovenia

Differences in antibiotic consumption are not seen only in different countries but also within countries. We retrospectively (2000–2012) analyzed the consumption of antibiotics in children in 9 regions in Slovenia and tried to find out the determinants of regional variation in the year 2006 and 2009. For each year we saw a 1.5 fold (range 1.2–1.8) difference between the regions with the lowest and the highest total antibiotic consumption. The interregional use of different antibiotic classes varied up to 8.5-fold. No correlation between antibiotic consumption and socioeconomic determinants was found. Very high and high correlation was found between antibiotic consumption and incidence of common acute respiratory tract infections like upper respiratory tract infections, sore throat, acute laryngitis/tracheitis and acute bronchitis. In 2006 there was a correlation between antibiotic use, urinary tract infections and acute otitis media. High overall consumption of antibiotics especially penicillins was associated with higher resistance of S. pneumoniae to penicillin. Regional variation in antibiotic use and its pattern are seen also in a small country as Slovenia and indicate the need for improvement.