About four in ten French people drink it at least once a year. In 2024, the prescription and consumption of antibiotics in France will have increased significantly compared to 2023, concludes an annual study by Public Health France (SpF) conducted using Social Security reimbursement data, communicated during Global Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week.
This increase occurred in prescriptions (more than 860 per 1,000 population this year, an increase of 4.8% compared to 2023), as well as consumption (+5.4% of daily dose per 1,000 population). The study revealed more precisely that general practitioners in France, the source of most prescriptions, prescribed more antibiotics (+6.2%). The same thing also happened to specialist doctors (+1.5%), but the status quo for dental surgeons (-0.2%).
The overall increase representing a “damage” by 2024, said Doctor Rémi Lefrançois, head of the healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance unit at SpF. After experiencing a downward trend since 2014, with the decline associated with the start of the Covid crisis, 2021 and 2022 are marked by the resumption of antibiotic use, due to the return of infections and common winter consultations. 2023 seems to be the year that consumption declines return as a result of collective pedagogy.
To explain the increase since 2024, “one hypothesis is related to winter seasonal epidemics (flu, bronchiolitis), with quite continuous activity, mainly due to viruses (…) but which may lead to the prescription of antibiotics” but useless, estimates Rémi Lefrançois.
With this increase, France is moving further away from its goals and remains among the poorest students in Europe despite the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. This country remains like this “far from the target of 650 prescriptions per 1,000 population per year by 2027”And “ranks second among the countries that consume the most antibiotics in Europe”behind Greece, commented Doctor Caroline Semaille, general director of SpF.
If a country rises from fifth to second place in one year, “European data (EU, Iceland and Norway) on total antibiotic consumption, in cities and in hospitals, must be put into perspective” considering differences in access to health services and systems, explains Rémi Lefrançois.
Differences with our European neighbors are also visible in our practices and history of treatment approaches. “French knowledge about antibiotic resistance is poor and tends to erode”alert Doctor Lefrançois by calling “Take back our pilgrim’s staff.” “We need to do more to raise awareness, reassure and help prescribers”assess the infectious disease expert, for example “may be a margin in the use of rapid diagnostic tests for angina or cystitis”.
France also shows disparities in antibiotic consumption based on age, gender or region. Among children aged zero to four years, antibiotic prescriptions were generally stable in 2024, but particularly increased in the third quarter due to the epidemic. Among the elderly, the number is increasing.
Consumption also remains higher among women than men, and in certain regions, such as Corsica and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. A difference that Doctor Lefrançois thinks can be explained by “an elderly population and a high level of service offered by general practitioners and specialists” in these areas.
Reducing antibiotic consumption is the goal of health authorities to curb the emergence of bacteria resistant to these molecules that have revolutionized modern medicine. If the body’s resistance to antibiotics is natural, this is exacerbated by excessive or inappropriate consumption of treatment, for example against seasonal flu, which is of viral and non-bacterial origin.
The World Health Organization, which describes the disease as one of the major public health threats, warned in mid-October about the increasing spread of bacteria becoming resistant. This reduces the effectiveness of life-saving treatments, for example for tuberculosis, and causes minor injuries and common, potentially fatal infections.
To avoid the terrible scenario of tens of millions of deaths due to antibiotic resistance, researchers are trying to find various ways, such as developing treatments that can fight dangerous bacteria without compromising the microbial balance in the body.
