Antibiotic use in 530 French hospitals: results from a surveillance network at hospital and ward levels in 2007.

Objectives: Antibiotic use in French hospitals is among the highest in Europe. A study was carried out to describe antibiotic consumption for inpatients at hospital and at ward levels.

Methods: Data were voluntarily collected retrospectively by 530 hospitals accounting for approximately 40 million patient-days (PD) on the following: antibacterials for systemic use [J01 class of the WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification, defined daily doses (DDD) system, 2007], rifampicin and oral imidazole derivatives, expressed in number of DDD and number of PD in 2007.