New publication: Identifying hospital-level predictors for antibiotic use with the Global-PPS
Understanding what drives antibiotic use in hospitals is essential for developing targeted and effective stewardship interventions. In a new Global Point Prevalence Survey (Global-PPS) study, researchers set out to identify hospital-level predictors of antibiotic use across different healthcare settings worldwide.
The study included 138 hospitals from Belgium, the Philippines, and South Africa that participated in the 2022–2023 Global-PPS Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) module. Using linear mixed models and stepwise selection methods, the team explored which hospital characteristics were associated with higher antibiotic prevalence. The results revealed substantial differences between countries: no single predictor was shared across all three national models.
Even though the kind of invasive devices differed per country, hospitals that treated a higher proportion of patients with those devices also saw higher antibiotic use. The study highlights:
- Substantial differences in predictors for hospital-level antibiotic use were found across countries
- Proportions of patients with (certain) invasive devices seem important predictors worldwide
- Incorporating broader contextual factors could provide deeper insights into predictors for antibiotic use
Annelies Boven, author of the study: “We see this kind of research as an important step toward making hospital‑level benchmarking more meaningful and turning automatic Global‑PPS results into something hospitals can genuinely use for targeted stewardship. While there is still work ahead to further refine the model before it can be fully integrated into feedback, we hope this approach will ultimately provide useful and actionable feedback for hospitals worldwide.”
Interested in the full analysis and country-specific results? Read the complete article here.
