Antibiotic resistance (AMR) is putting healthcare systems under pressure. Resistance to antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics (drugs that belong to the group of antimicrobials) costs $29 billion (27,108 million euros) per year in 34 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In Spain alone, the organization estimates that spending could rise to 326 million euros per year.
The report points this out Introducing a One Health framework to combat antimicrobial resistance published by the organization in September this year, which points out that in 17 of the countries analyzed ADR spending accounts for 19% of total healthcare spending. The OECD encourages increased investment and implementation of measures to combat antimicrobial resistance, which provides a return greater than the cost of implementation.
New medicines legislation proposed by the European Commission last April already aims to reduce the use of antibiotics by 20% and warns that their overuse is “another major cause of the emergence of so-called superbugs”. In addition, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc) promoted the goals of at least 65% of total antibiotic use being effective in humans and reducing infections caused by three antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A notice.
Aside from that, The labor market losses caused by AMR, taking productivity figures into account, amount to $34.9 billion (32,654 million euros) in the 34 economies analyzed. The document also guarantees that the costs of AMR to the health systems of OECD countries will exceed the costs of Covid in the long term.
The OECD study considered twelve combinations of antibiotics and bacteria that, if left uncontrolled, could be twice as resistant in the analyzed countries in 2035 as in 2005. If this trend continues, health systems will have fewer options to treat patients with illnesses such as pneumonia or bloodstream infections. In countries such as Greece, India and Turkey, the report estimates that by 2035, 40% of infections caused by the combinations studied by the OECD will be resistant to antibiotics. In addition, three developed goals were formulated.
Currently, one in five bacterial infections in OECD countries is resistant to antibiotic treatment.
In 2020, drug-resistant infections claimed the lives of 79,000 people in OECD and European Union countries, a figure that doubles the number of deaths from tuberculosis, flu and HIV/AIDS in 2020. In fact, one in five bacterial infections is resistant to antibiotic treatment. People over 65 years of age are the group most affected by the number of deaths from AMR, accounting for approximately 70% of all deaths.
In Spain, the report states that total antibiotic consumption in human health reached an average of 40.1 defined daily doses (DDD) per thousand people in 2015, well above the EU average, which was 24.1 doses. However, given recent results, the organization believes this will be the case The total consumption of antibiotics will show a slight decrease in 2030, reaching 38.1 DDD per thousand people in 2030.
