This study was designed to compare results of pharmacoepidemiological analysis of antibacterial therapy in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) admitted to hospitals of Nizhniy Novgorod.

Methods. Data for analysis were obtained from medical records of all patients with CAP (n = 117; 51.3% were males) admitted to two city hospitals in 2015 and 2016. Therapy of CAP was in agreement with corresponding standards. We analyzed real drug utilization using the defined daily dose (DDD) and drug utilization accounting for 90% of the total amount of DDD prescribed (DU90%).

Results. Penicillinase-resistant penicillins, the 3rd generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones were the most often prescribed antibiotics in hospitals. The highest number of DDD was for ceftriaxone (376.0 g) in the hospital 1 and levofloxacin (468.16 g) in the hospital 2. The drugs constituting 90% of the prescription volume for inpatient therapy of CAP were ceftriaxone (46.09%), levofloxacin (20.0%), azythromycin (9.19%), and ciprofloxacin (9.19%) in the hospital 1 and ceftriaxone (16.50%), levofloxacin (71.19%), and ertapenem (4.70%) in the hospital 2. In the hospital 1, the cost of one DDD in DU10% segment (982.12 RUB) was 4-fold higher than that in DU90% segment (200.0 RUB); this suggests that inexpensive drugs were predominantly used in the hospital 1. In the hospital 2, DU10% consisted of two drugs accounting 24.56% of the total prescriptions. The cost of one DDD in DU90% segment (6 022.88 RUB) was 1.9-fold higher than that in DU10% segment (3 166.73 RUB); this suggests that more expensive antibiotics were widely used in the hospital 2.

Conclusion. The strategy used in the hospital 2 is recommended according to the study results. The initial therapy with a single antibiotic could significantly reduce the drug load for the patient. Addition of the second antibiotic to the treatment was needed in 15% only, though patients were admitted to a hospital after the treatment failure both in ambulatory settings and in other hospitals.

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