The consumption of antibiotics has decreased in France in 2023 in community medicine after two years of recovery, health authorities announced on Wednesday, November 6, calling for continued efforts to reduce their still excessive use.
“After two consecutive years marked by an increase in the use of antibiotics, the 2023 figures are part of the trend of moderate but constant decline observed before the Covid-19 pandemic, since 2013”according to an annual study by Public Health France (SPF) based on data on Social Security reimbursements.
This evolution is noticeable in prescriptions (820.6 per 1,000 inhabitants in the year, that is, – 0.2% compared to 2022) and in consumption (- 3.3% in one year of daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants).
After a downward trend for several years and a drop in antibiotic consumption at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, a recovery occurred in 2021 that intensified in 2022. If the decline in 2023 continues “an encouraging sign”France is “still far from the goal of less than 650 prescriptions per 1,000 inhabitants per year”commented D.r Caroline Semaille, Director General of Public Health of France, quoted in a press release, insists on the need to always “better conscience”.
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France remains one of the countries with the worst results in Europe, ranking fifth among the countries with the highest consumption of antibiotics per capita. And the disparities in the prescriptions and use of these treatments remain. “strong according to age, sex and territories”noted the health agency.
Thus, 2023 marked a decrease among children under 5 years of age (with prescriptions even slightly lower than the 2019 level), a stabilization among children between 15 and 64 years of age and an increase among those over 65 years of age. Consumption also remained generally higher among women than men and in certain regions, such as Corsica and PACA.
If general practitioners, the source of the vast majority of antibiotic prescriptions, reduced their prescriptions in 2023 (-1.3%), specialists (+4.6%) and dentists (+4%) used these treatments more only in 2022.
Three families of antibiotics, amoxicillin, the combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid and macrolides, were the most administered. Reducing the consumption of antibiotics is an objective of health authorities around the world, mainly to stop the emergence of increasingly resistant bacteria.
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Starting November 18, Public Health France will broadcast the campaign “Antibiotics, taking good care of yourself is first using them well”to emphasize that its use, on medical advice, is only useful in cases of bacterial, not viral, infections.
