The Quest for the Best Metric of Antibiotic Use and Its Correlation with the Emergence of Fluoroquinolone Resistance in Children

Abstract

We evaluated the correlation between fluoroquinolone use, measured by doses administered and days of therapy, with the emergence of ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin resistance among Gram-negative bacilli infections in children hospitalized at one pediatric center between April 2001 and March 2009. Both metrics and drug resistance were highly correlated.