An Overview of Antibiotic Utilization in Pediatric Pneumonia Patients at Tabanan Regional General Hospital

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universitas Warmadewa, Denpasar 80239, Indonesia
² Lyceum of the Philippines University–Batangas (LPU-Batangas), Batangas 4200, Philippines

^* Corresponding author: putunitacahyawati@gmail.com

Abstract

Pneumonia is one of the world's major health problems, especially in children. Empirical antibiotic therapy is the initial management of pneumonia in pediatrics. This is because the culture process is lengthy. To date, research on antibiotic use in pediatric pneumonia patients is limited. The purpose of this study was to analyze the demographic, clinical, and antibiotic therapy characteristics in pediatric patients with pneumonia at Tabanan Regional General Hospital. The method used in this study was descriptive observational with a cross-sectional approach. The data in this study were taken from the medical records of 102 patients. The results showed that most patients were between 1 and 12 months old (49%) and male (66.7%). The main symptoms were cough (84.3%), and most patients did not have comorbidities (70.6%). The duration of treatment was 1-7 days (96.1%). The type of antibiotic most commonly used was cephalosporin antibiotics, specifically ceftriaxone (93.1%), administered via the parenteral route (99%), with a duration of administration of 1-5 days (87.3%). This study concludes that pediatric pneumonia is predominantly experienced by boys under the age of 1 year. The primary antibiotic therapy is cephalosporin (ceftriaxone). Clinically, the majority of patients experience complaints of coughing without other accompanying illnesses.