Antibiotic Expenditures in the U.S., 2009

Across all settings, expenditures totaled $10.7 billion and were highest for quinolones, penicillins, and tetracyclines.

Appropriate use of antibiotics nationwide — controlled through antibiotic stewardship programs — is thought to be a key measure for slowing or even reversing the spread of antibiotic resistance, as well as for decreasing healthcare costs in the U.S. However, when designing such programs, authorities must know in which setting which agents are prescribed in which amounts.

Now, investigators have used data from the IMS Health National Sales Perspectives database, which captures >90% of all U.S. antibiotic expenditures, to estimate overall and class-specific antibiotic costs by healthcare setting for 2009.

Antibiotic expenditures in the U.S. in all healthcare settings totaled $10.7 billion: $6.5 billion (61.5%) in the outpatient setting, $3.6 bi…

Reviewing Author

Thomas Glück, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsConsilium Infectiorum by InfectoPharm, Infection

Thomas Glück, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsConsilium Infectiorum by InfectoPharm, Infection