Evaluation of Ceftriaxone utilization among selected hospitals in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

Objectives: Inappropriate use of ceftriaxone has been reported to increase treatment cost among patients. In addition, inappropriate use is a threat for resistance development. We assessed utilization of ceftriaxone among selected public and private hospitals in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. Methods: Retrospective study was conducted from February to May 2017. Total of 600 patients’ medication records were included. Chi square test was used to compare appropriateness use of ceftriaxone between the hospitals. Significance level was set at 0.05 and the confidence level at 95%. Results: Total of 330 (55%) and 270 (45%) patients were prescribed ceftriaxone for pre-operative prophylaxis, and treatment respectively. In overall, ceftriaxone was significantly utilized inappropriately in private hospital (72.3%) than in public hospital (60%) p=0.002 against the Tanzania standard treatment guideline. Ceftriaxone was more used inappropriately in private (87%) than the public hospital (69.2%) p<0.001 for prophylaxis. In contrary, for treatment indication ceftriaxone was more used inappropriately in public hospital (53.3%) than in private hospital (38.9%) p= 0.026.There were no records of sensitivity test in all the patients’ files. Conclusion: We report inappropriately utilization of Ceftriaxone against the Tanzanian standard treatment guideline. Private hospital was found to utilize ceftriaxone more inappropriately than the public hospital. We recommend further prospective studies involving all antimicrobials to be done. Keywords: Ceftriaxone utilization, antimicrobial resistance, inappropriate use