OBJECTIVES: Irrational use of antibiotics is always the concern of health care system because of its negative effects. This study aimed to evaluate antibiotic use in a state hospital in Hue, Vietnam with its cost, using the ATC/DDD index.

METHODS: This study was performed as a point prevalence study in a 180-bed state hospital. Data of using antibiotics on 2016 were collected. Antibiotic use and cost analysis were evaluated using the ATC/DDD index, which is also suggested by the WHO to be used in similar studies.

RESULTS: Antibiotics accounted for 9.71% of products volume and 21.85% of total drug expense. Of 9 antibiotic groups used, value of beta-lactam group was the highest (84.5%). In beta-lactam group, cephalosporins occupied the highest value (89.35%), particularly the third generation ones (78,95%). Cefadroxil is the oral antibiotic consumed most widely (16,431 DDD) with the average cost per DDD of 0.15 USD. Ceftazidim was the injectable antibiotics used more than any others (75.91 DDD/1,000 bed-days and the cost per DDD of 6.90 USD). Cefotaxime and ceftriaxone are the second and third injectable antibiotic most commonly used, respectively. Although the average cost per DDD of cefotaxime is twice more than that of ceftriaxone (3.51 USD versus 1.39 USD), cefotaxime was used at higher amount (12.80 DDD/1,000 bed-days versus 2.76 DDD/1,000 bed-days).

CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotics, especially cephalosporin, occupied the highest proportion of the total drug expense. The hospital gave priority to the use of first-line oral antibiotics which often had the lower cost per DDD. However, injectable antibiotics with higher cost per DDD were still used commonly.