Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service Researchers Publish Findings in Antibiotics (Antibiotic Use during Pregnancy in South Korea Using 2011-2020 National Health Insurance Claims Data): Drugs and Therapies – Antibiotics

2023 SEP 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on antibiotics. According to news reporting originating from Wonju, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Since antimicrobial overuse and misuse can have substantial impacts on both public health and fetal well-being, it is essential to gain comprehensive insights into antimicrobial consumption patterns in pregnant women. This study aims to demonstrate antimicrobial utilization in pregnant women.”

Funders for this research include Korea Disease Control And Prevention Agency.

Our news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service: “We conducted a population-based cohort study using National Health Insurance claims data from January 2009 to December 2020 in South Korea. The target population was pregnancies in women aged 15-45 years who gave birth between 2011 and 2019. The outcome measure was the percentage of antibiotic prescriptions by trimester, subgroup, diagnostic category, and therapeutic category. Antibiotics were defined as J01 in the WHO ATC/DDD classification. To analyze the factors that influenced antibiotic prescriptions, we conducted multivariate logistic regression analysis. Antibiotics were prescribed at least once in 1,808,588 (50%) of the 3,614,478 pregnancies. The proportion of deliveries with exposure to antibiotic therapy during pregnancy increased from 48% in 2011 to 54.8% in 2020. The prescription rate of antibiotics was highest in mothers younger than 25 years old, and it was lowest in participants aged 30-34 years. Also, antibiotic use was highest in the first trimester (30%) and lowest in the second trimester (18.2%). The most commonly used class was J01D (other beta-lactam antibacterials), which includes cephalosporins, and it accounted for 57% of the prescribed antibiotics. An increased probability of being prescribed antibiotics was associated with those younger than 25 years old, insurance (Medical Aid), hospitalization experience, an increase in physician visits, and comorbidities. For comorbidities, the OR was higher for respiratory tract infection (RTI), sexually transmitted infection, and urinary tract infection compared to those without disease, whereas it was decreased for diabetes and epilepsy.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The prescribing rate of antibiotics to pregnant women in South Korea has remained stably high. Also, an increase in the use of broad-spectrum beta-lactam penicillin was noted. It is necessary to monitor antibiotics in pregnant women generally in accordance with recommendations.”

For more information on this research see: Antibiotic Use during Pregnancy in South Korea Using 2011-2020 National Health Insurance Claims Data. Antibiotics, 2023,12(1242):1242. (Antibiotics - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/antibiotics). The publisher for Antibiotics is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12081242.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Jungmi Chae, Department of Research, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, Wonju 26465, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Jun Yong Choi, Bongyoung Kim, Dong-Sook Kim.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)