Table 1.

Systematic review inclusion and exclusion criteria

PICO	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
Population	Studies on AMS, protocols or policies in DAC least developed and low-income countries Hospitalised patients including surgical patients. All age groups. Studies on prescribers for hospitalised patients in DAC least developed countries	Trials on patients in the communities with no history of hospital admission during the period of the trial. Patients classified by respective study to be in long-term care
Intervention	Antimicrobial stewardship approaches, programmes, policies where AMS is the sole intervention or at least one element of an intervention; and/or interventions targeting hospital hygiene or infection transmission control strategies.	Studies on viral, fungal or parasite infections where bacterial infection data cannot be extracted.
Comparison	None	None
Outcomes	Behavioural outcomes: changes in prescribing practices Microbiological outcomes: bacterial infection confirmed by culture and sensitivity or by clinical suspicion. Confirmed microbiological infection with resistant bacteria at admission, during hospital stay or post discharge. Clinical outcomes: treatment success (confirmed microbiological clearance or clinical improvement) length of stay in hospital or death.	Studies comparing the therapeutic effectiveness of one type of antimicrobial against another type. These are studies with the primary goal of determining superiority of one drug.

AMS, antimicrobial stewardship; DAC, Development Assistance Committee; PICO, Participants Intervention Comparison Outcomes.