Regional differences in outpatient antibiotic consumption in Switzerland

This paper investigates regional variations in outpatient antibiotic use and provides a first empirical analysis based on Swiss data. We compare Swiss antibiotic consumption with antibiotic use in other European countries and present descriptive statistics at cantonal level. Preliminary findings show that Switzerland exhibits relatively low levels of consumption. There are significant differences among cantons both in the per capita antibiotic sales and Defined Daily Doses per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID). Regression analysis suggests that demographic factors, density of pharmacies and medical practices, income and the incidence of infections are significantly related to antibiotic consumption.