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Surveillance of antimicrobial use has so far focused mainly on antibiotics and represents a key element of antibiotic stewardship aimed at curtailing excessive use to slow development of resistance and minimize adverse effects. However, even though the same problems apply to antifungals, much less is known about antifungal use in hospitals.
To fill this knowledge gap, researchers used a proprietary database to analyze medication data on more than 34 million discharges from 552 short-stay acute-care hospitals in the U.S. between 2006 and 2012.
During this period, antifungals were ordered for 2.7% of all inpatients and for 7.7% of patients treated in intensive care units. Azoles were the most frequently prescribed antifungal drug class (28.5 tr…