Introduction: Ceftriaxone is the most frequently used antibiotic for the treatment of various bacterial infections in hospitalized and ambulatory patients. Despite this, inappropriate ceftriaxone use is common.
Objective: The aim of this review is to assess the appropriate use of ceftriaxone in sub-Saharan African countries.
Methods: A systematic search was done on PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Libraries and Google Scholar for papers published addressing the prescribing pattern and use of ceftriaxone in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings were reported in medians and quartiles.
Results: A total of 15 articles met the inclusion criteria. Pneumonia and sepsis were the most frequently diagnosed infections in the included studies. The overall median prevalence of appropriate ceftriaxone use is 39.2% (IQR: 29.9– 60.9), showing that most of the included studies reported a higher prevalence of inappropriate ceftriaxone use. Although there are a higher number of patients with inappropriate use of ceftriaxone, a relatively higher number of patients got appropriate daily dose (79.8%, IQR: 45.7– 89.4) of ceftriaxone than appropriate duration of ceftriaxone (55%, IQR: 52.2– 80).
Conclusion: The review revealed that three in five patients with ceftriaxone got inappropriate ceftriaxone’s dose, frequency or duration. A relatively higher number of patients got appropriate daily dose of ceftriaxone. On the other hand, approximately more than half of the patients got inappropriate duration, too short or too long, of ceftriaxone. Hence, prescribers are recommended to adhere to their country-specific treatment guideline. Moreover, it is highly recommended to either commence or strengthen antimicrobial stewardship program effectively in their healthcare settings.

Keywords: ceftriaxone, ceftriaxone use evaluation, prescribing pattern, sub-Saharan Africa


中文翻译：

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在撒哈拉以南非洲适当使用头孢曲松：系统评价

简介：头孢曲松是最常用的抗生素，用于治疗住院和门诊患者的各种细菌感染。尽管如此，不适当的头孢曲松使用是常见的。
目的：本次审查的目的是评估头孢曲松在撒哈拉以南非洲国家的适当使用。
方法：在 PubMed、EMBASE、Cochrane 图书馆和 Google Scholar 上进行系统搜索，以查找有关撒哈拉以南非洲地区头孢曲松处方模式和使用的论文。调查结果以中位数和四分位数报告。
结果：共有15篇文章符合纳入标准。肺炎和败血症是纳入研究中最常诊断的感染。适当使用头孢曲松的总体中位流行率为 39.2%（IQR：29.9-60.9），表明大多数纳入的研究报告了不适当使用头孢曲松的较高流行率。尽管头孢曲松使用不当的患者数量较多，但与头孢曲松适当持续时间（55%，IQR：52.2-80）相比，接受头孢曲松每日适当剂量（79.8%，IQR：45.7-89.4）的患者数量相对较多）。
结论：审查显示，五分之三的头孢曲松患者接受了不适当的头孢曲松剂量、频率或持续时间。相对较多的患者获得了适当的每日头孢曲松剂量。另一方面，大约一半以上的患者头孢曲松的持续时间不合适，太短或太长。因此，建议开处方者遵守其国家特定的治疗指南。此外，强烈建议在其医疗保健环境中有效地启动或加强抗菌药物管理计划。

关键词：头孢曲松，头孢曲松使用评估，处方模式，撒哈拉以南非洲