Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Infectious Diseases, Microbiology, Pharmacology & Pharmacy, log-ratio analysis, multivariate data, staying-in-the-simplex analysis, ambulatory care, Europe, EUROPEAN SURVEILLANCE, Ambulatory Care, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Cephalosporins, Computational Biology, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Drug Prescriptions, Drug Utilization, Geography, Humans, Outpatients, Penicillins, Tetracycline, 0605 Microbiology, 1108 Medical Microbiology, 1115 Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3202 Clinical sciences, 3214 Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences

Abstract:

In this tutorial, statistical methods for studying outpatient use of antibiotics in Europe are described, using data provided by IMS Health. The methods are applied to two related research questions, namely the assessment of changes in the relative volume of use of different antibiotic subclasses over time and changes in the absolute volume of antibiotic use.