Impact of antibiotic stewardship programmes in Asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The use of antibiotic stewardship programmes (ASPs) is increasing in Asia, but their effectiveness in reducing antibiotic consumption and their impact on clinical outcomes is not known.

Objectives: To determine the impact of ASPs conducted in Asia on the consumption of antibiotics and on patients' clinical outcomes.

Methods: We systematically searched the Embase and Medline (PubMed) databases for studies that compared antibiotic consumption or clinical outcomes of patients in an Asian hospital or clinic with an ASP (intervention) with those in a similar setting without an ASP (control).