GPP: Every other insured person General health insurance company has had prescribed antibiotics in the last three years

The general health insurance company (VZP) has published alarming data on antibiotic abuse in Slovakia. The analysis of the data of the largest health insurance company shows that up to 40% of all insured persons had been prescribed antibiotics in 2024. Long-term data over the last six years show that, on average, 1 in 3 insured persons had prescribed antibiotics, with an average of three years revealing an even more worrying trend of – antibiotics had been prescribed by every other insured person.
Estimates based on data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control indicate that more than 35 000 people die every year in Europe as a direct result of antimicrobial resistant infections. This problem, known as antibiotic resistance, is one of the most serious health threats at present, and its main cause is precisely unnecessary or excessive use of antibiotics.
According to the analysis of the GMP, every 18th visit to the general adult physician and every 11th visit to the general doctor for children and adolescents ends with the regulation of antibiotics. In the case of respiratory diseases, which account for up to 63% of all prescribed antibiotics, the rule of antibiotics ends every 22nd visit to the general doctor and every 12th visit to the general physician for children and adolescents. It is particularly alarming that it is only every second visit to the Respiratory Disease.
–These figures are really disturbing. Antibiotics lose their effectiveness precisely because of their excessive and often unjustified use," said Minister of Health Kamil Šaško. –I call on doctors to consider antibiotics more carefully and to use available diagnostic methods to distinguish between viral and bacterial infections.At the same time, I appeal to patients not to put pressure on doctors to prescribe antibiotics in normal viral diseases. This patient pressure is one of the main reasons for overprescription of antibiotics, as further studies have shown."
At the same time, the analysis of the VZP showed that in 2024, the most commonly prescribed antibiotics were macrolides, lincosamides and streptogramins (36%), other beta-lactam antibiotics (25%) and penicillins (25%). There was an increase in the prescription of macrolides from 29% to 36% compared to 2019, with the most used active substance being azithromycin.

Our data show that up to 83% of insured persons had a prescribed active substance azithromycin for respiratory diseases in 2024. It is also striking to note that only a small percentage of patients have a CRP before prescribing antibiotics to help distinguish between viral or bacterial infections," explained the chairman of the board and general director of the VšZP Matúš Jurové. Data on HIV-RNA for 2024 point to the prescription of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections, which are in most cases of viral origin and are not treated with antibiotics. As a leader in prevention, the EHIC considers it its duty to draw attention to this situation and thus contribute to the responsible use of antibiotics.
–Antibiotics are an indispensable medicine in bacterial infections, but their overuse in viral diseases not only does not help but contributes to the global problem of antibiotic resistance," informed board member VšZP Denisa Slivková. –We have identified a number of main causes for overprescription of antibiotics, the patient pressure, the lack of time in overloaded ambulances to explain the ineffectiveness of antibiotics in viral diseases, and, in some cases, a visit to emergency services to obtain an antibiotic that the general physician has refused to prescribe. As part of our commitment to prevention and responsible provision of healthcare, we will be more intensively communicating with healthcare providers on the suitability of antibiotics prescribing and will also consider introducing further control mechanisms."
In the coming months, the GPP plans to implement an awareness-raising campaign aimed at both patients and doctors to reduce antibiotic over-use and promote evidence-based rational prescribing. The insurance company is also preparing an educational and motivational programme for doctors to reduce the prescription of antibiotics for viral diseases.
Key findings of the GPP analysis:

• In 2024, 40% of the policyholders had been prescribed antibiotics.
• In 2024, every child aged 1 – 8 years had been prescribed antibiotics. In 2024, every other child under one year had been prescribed antibiotics.
• For 2024, antibiotics were prescribed to every other insured person under the age of 15.
• 11.3% of prescribed antibiotics in 2024 were linked to the performance of telemedicine and prescribed electronically.

• In the last 3 years, every other insured person has had antibiotic treatment.
• 63% of prescribed antibiotics were for respiratory disease.
• In adults, the most common first choice is the active substance azithromycin, in children amoxicillin.
• Every 18th insured person leaves the general physician with prescribed antibiotics
• Every 11th insured person leaves the general doctor for children and grows up with prescribed antibiotics.
• Every second visit to the ORL with respiratory disease ends with the prescription of antibiotics.
• The highest increase in antibiotic prescription was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022.