Antituberculosis drug prescribing for inpatients in a national tuberculosis hospital in China, 2011–2015

Objectives This study aimed to describe trends in antituberculosis drug prescribing for inpatients from 2011–2015 in a Chinese national tuberculosis (TB) hospital. Methods This retrospective study, performed in March 2016, reviewed the medical records of all inpatients from Beijing Chest Hospital diagnosed with TB between 2011–2015. Medication used for TB treatment during the inpatient period was recorded. Results A total of 11 465 inpatients were enrolled in the study. The most frequently prescribed drug for inpatients was isoniazid (71.2%; 8164/11 465), followed by ethambutol (67.5%; 7738/11 465), pyrazinamide (59.7%; 6839/11 465) and rifampicin (40.0%; 4589/11 465). In addition, amikacin (16.5%; 1889/11 465), levofloxacin (33.0%; 3789/11 465), para-aminosalicylic acid (12.4%; 1422/11 465) and clarithromycin (3.5%; 406/11 465) were the most common drugs used in the treatment of inpatients for Group II, III, IV and V drugs, respectively. A significant increasing trend in prescribing was found for rifampicin, pyrazinamide, capreomycin, moxifloxacin, prothionamide, para-aminosalicylic acid, cycloserine, clofazimine and linezolid, respectively, whilst there was a significant decreasing trend in the rate of prescribing of ethambutol, amikacin, levofloxacin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and clarithromycin during the 5-year study period (Ptrend Conclusions These data demonstrate that prescription of anti-TB drugs varied greatly across clinical diagnostic categories, treatment history and drug susceptibility profiles of TB patients. The World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed standard regimen should be more extensively employed under conditions where drug susceptibility testing is unavailable in order to guide clinicians to formulate a suitable treatment regimen for TB patients.