Effect of antibiotic medicines availability on adherence to standard treatment guidelines among hospitalized adult patients in southern Malawi

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic resistance is a global public health problem. High and inappropriate use of antibiotic therapy exacerbate the risk of antibiotic resistance. We assessed the effect of availability of antibiotic medicines on adherence to standard treatment guidelines among hospitalized adult patients in Southern Malawi. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done to assess the availability of 16 antibiotics among the first-line recommended treatments for common bacterial infections in Malawi. Data for up to six-month duration was extracted from stock card records in Machinga and Nsanje District Hospitals and Zomba Central Hospital. This was complemented by a retrospective review of 322 patient management files from medical wards to assess adherence to the Malawi Standard Treatment Guidelines (MSTG). Investigators abstracted data such as patient demographics, diagnoses, and prescribed therapy using a data collection form that resulted in analyzing 304 patient files. Data was entered into Microsoft excel and analyzed using STATA 14.1. Point availability, stock-out duration and adherence to treatment guidelines were presented in terms of frequencies and percentages. Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was applied to assess the association between variables and adherence to treatment guidelines. RESULTS: Point availability of antibiotics was 81.5%, 87.7%, and 42.8% for Zomba Central, Machinga and Nsanje District Hospitals respectively. Over a period of six months, 12.5% of antibiotic medicines were stocked out for at least one day at Zomba (Median stock out days = 0, (IQR 0–0 days), while 64.3% were stocked out at Machinga (Median stock out days = 21, IQR 0–31 days) and 85.7% were stocked out at Nsanje District Hospital (Median stock out days = 66.5, IQR 18–113 days). Overall, adherence to MSTG was 79.6%, (95% CI, 73.3–84.9%). By facilities, adherence to guidelines at Zomba Central Hospital was 95.9% (95% CI, 89.7–98.9%) while at Nsanje and Machinga District Hospitals was 73.2% (95% CI, 59.7–84.2%) and 54.2% (95% CI, 39.2–68.6%) respectively. Adherence to treatment guidelines was associated with health facility, presence of laboratory test results, antibiotic spectrum, and WHO-AWaRe category of the medicine, p<0.005. Adherence was lower for antibiotics that were stocked out than antibiotics that were not stocked out during the study period (63.8%, 95% CI 48.5–77.3% vs 84.4%, 95% CI 77.7–89.8%), p< 0.002. CONCLUSION: We found unstable availability of antibiotic medicines in hospitals which might contribute to the sub-optimal adherence to standard treatment guidelines. This is a setback to efforts aimed at curbing antibiotic resistance in Malawi.