Table 1. Frequency of Encounters and Days of Therapy by Age Group and Antimicrobial Group.
| Antimicrobial groupa | No. (%) | Duration of therapy per encounter with AU, median (IQR), d | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encounters | Days of therapy | ||
| Adult encounters | |||
| Total No. | 145 980 | 417 899 | |
| NHSN-reported agentsb | |||
| None | 72 542 (49.7) | 0 | 0 |
| Any | 73 438 (50.3) | 417 899 (100) | 3 (2-6) |
| All antibacterials | 68 729 (47.1) | 383 598 (91.8) | 2 (1-4) |
| Antifungal agents | 5148 (3.5) | 34 301 (8.2) | 4 (2-7) |
| C difficile risk agents | 31 241 (21.4) | 123 444 (29.5) | 3 (2-5) |
| Community-onset | 28 423 (19.5) | 99 369 (23.8) | 3 (1-4) |
| Narrow-spectrum beta-lactams | 28 141 (19.3) | 61 507 (14.7) | 2 (1-2) |
| Hospital-onset | 8515 (5.8) | 50 985 (12.2) | 4 (2-7) |
| Resistant gram-positive | 25 660 (17.6) | 91 326 (21.9) | 2 (1-4) |
| Pediatric encounters | |||
| Total No. | 24 314 | 65 668 | |
| NHSN-reported agentsb | |||
| None | 17 562 (72.2) | 0 | 0 |
| Any | 6752 (27.8) | 65 668 (100) | 3 (2-7) |
| All antibacterials | 5644 (23.2) | 61 335 (93.4) | 3 (2-5) |
| Antifungal agents | 431 (1.8) | 4333 (6.6) | 5 (2-13) |
| C difficile risk agents | 2544 (10.5) | 15 074 (23) | 3 (2-6) |
| Community-onset | |||
| Broad | 1575 (6.5) | 5619 (8.6) | 2 (1-4) |
| Narrow | 3077 (12.7) | 13 554 (20.6) | 3 (2-3) |
| Hospital-onset | 1038 (4.3) | 11 158 (17) | 5 (3-11) |
| Resistant gram-positive | 1615 (6.6) | 6937 (10.6) | 3 (2-5) |
| Azithromycin | 439 (1.8) | 1726 (2.6) | 3 (1-5) |
Abbreviations: AU, antimicrobial use; C difficile, Clostridioides difficile; IQR, interquartile range; NHSN, National Healthcare Safety Network; SAAR, standardized antimicrobial administration ratio.
a
Based on 2017 SAAR antimicrobial agent categories.
b
Indicates any antimicrobial agent reported in the NHSN AU Option. Note that agent group titles and agent lists are included in eTable 1 in the Supplement and that agent categories are not mutually exclusive.