The consumption of antibiotics has declined in France in 2023 in community medicine after two years of rebound, health authorities announced on Wednesday, calling for continued efforts to reduce 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 development is perceptible in prescriptions (820.6 per 1,000 inhabitants in the year, i.e. -0.2% compared to 2022) and in consumption (-3.3% over one year of daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants ). After a downward trend for several years and a fall in antibiotic consumption at the start of the Covid pandemic, a recovery appeared in 2021 and intensified in 2022.
France, a bad student in Europe
If the decline in 2023 is “an encouraging sign”, France is “still far from the target objective of less than 650 prescriptions per 1,000 inhabitants per year”, commented the Dr Caroline Semaille, Director General of Public Health France, quoted in a press release, insisting on the need to always “better awareness”.
France remains one of the worst performers in Europe, ranked fifth among the countries with the highest consumption of antibiotics per capita. And the disparities in prescriptions and use of these treatments remain “strong depending on age, sex and territories”, noted the health agency. 2023 thus marked a decrease among children under five years old – with prescriptions even slightly lower than the 2019 level –, a stabilization among 15-64 year olds and an increase among those over 65 years old.
Corsica and Paca, largest consumers
Consumption also remained higher overall among women than among men, and in certain regions, such as Corsica and Paca. If general practitioners, the source of the overwhelming majority of antibiotic prescriptions, reduced their prescriptions in 2023 (-1.3%), specialists (+4.6%) and dentists (+1.4%) used these treatments more than in 2022.
Three families of antibiotics, amoxicillin, the combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, macrolides, were the most administered. Reducing the consumption of antibiotics is an objective of health authorities around the world, mainly to curb the appearance of increasingly resistant bacteria.
From November 18, Public Health France will rebroadcast the campaign “Antibiotics, taking good care of yourself means first using them well”, to emphasize that their use, on medical advice, is only useful in cases bacterial infections, not viral.
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