Systemic antifungal drug use in Belgium-One of the biggest antifungal consumers in Europe.

BACKGROUND: Reports on the consumption of systemic antifungal drugs on a national level are scarce although of high interest to compare trends and the associated epidemiology in other countries and to assess the need for antifungal stewardship programmes.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate patterns of Belgian inpatient and outpatient antifungal use and provide reference data for other countries.

METHODS: Consumption records of antifungals were collected in Belgian hospitals between 2003 and 2016. Primary healthcare data were available for the azoles for the period 2010-2016.

RESULTS: The majority of the antifungal consumption resulted from prescriptions of fluconazole and itraconazole in the ambulatory care while hospitals were responsible for only 6.4% of the total national consumption and echinocandin use was limited. The annual average antifungal consumption in hospitals decreased significantly by nearly 25% between 2003 and 2016, due to a decrease solely in non-university hospitals. With the exception of specialised burn centres, antifungals are mostly consumed at ICUs and internal medicine wards. A significant decline was also observed in the consumption of azoles in primary health care, attributed to itraconazole. The major part of azoles was prescribed by generalists followed by dermatologists.

CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the downward trend in annual use of systemic antifungal drugs, Belgium remains one of the biggest consumers in Europe.