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Background: Antimicrobial usage (AMU) in livestock plays a key role in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Analysis of AMU data in livestock is therefore relevant for both animal and public health.Objectives: To assess AMU in 470 broiler and 252 turkey farms of one of Italy's largest poultry companies, accounting for around 30% of national poultry production, to identify trends and risk factors for AMU.Methods: Antimicrobial treatments administered to 5827 broiler and 1264 turkey grow-out cycles in 2015-17 were expressed as DDDs for animals per population correction unit (DDDvet/PCU). A retrospective analysis was conducted to examine the effect of geographical area, season and prescribing veterinarian on AMU. Management and structural interventions implemented by the company were also assessed.Results: AMU showed a 71% reduction in broilers (from 14 to 4 DDDvet/PCU) and a 56% reduction in turkeys (from 41 to 18 DDDvet/PCU) during the study period. Quinolones, macrolides and polymyxins decreased from 33% to 6% of total AMU in broilers, and from 56% to 32% in turkeys. Broiler cycles during spring and winter showed significantly higher AMU, as well as those in densely populated poultry areas. Different antimicrobial prescribing behaviour was identified among veterinarians.Conclusions: This study evidenced a decreasing trend in AMU and identified several correlates of AMU in broilers and turkeys. These factors will inform the design of interventions to further reduce AMU and therefore counteract antimicrobial resistance in these poultry sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The factors influencing General Practitioners' (GPs) prescribing behavior are diverse in terms of health care policies and regulations, GPs' education and experience, demographic trends and disease profiles. Thus, it can be useful to analyze the specific local patterns, as they affect the quality of healthcare and the stability of the healthcare market. The aim of the present longitudinal retrospective study is to investigate the prescription of generic drugs in a database of about 4.6 million prescriptions from a sample of 38 GPs practicing in Salerno, Italy, within a timeframe of 15 years, from 2001 to 2015. The GPs in our study show a general tendency to increase prescriptions of generic drugs during the studied time span, to fulfill regulatory obligations and with some differences in prescription behavior according to age, gender and experience. The generics prescription depends also on the different diagnoses, with some diagnostic areas showing a greater generic drug prescription rate. Expanding this research to larger datasets would allow deepening the knowledge of the patterns of GPs' prescribing decisions, to provide evidence to be used in comparison between different national settings.