OBJECTIVE  To provide a basis for clinical antimicrobial stewardship, the relationship between the bacterial resistance rate (BRR) of Escherichia coli and antibiotics use density (AUD) was investigated.

METHODS  The original BRR of Escherichia coli and the AUD of 22 antibiotics from January 2017 to June 2023 were collected from the hospital information system. Mantel test was used to comprehensively analyze the correlation between bacterial drug resistance and visualized in R language.

RESULTS  The BRR of Escherichia coli to third-generation cephalosporins, quinolones, BLBLIs and carbapenems showed no obvious upward trend from January 2017 to June 2023, and the average were 53.0%, 45.02%, 6.75% and 1.44% respectively. The BRR of Escherichia coli to BLBLIs showed the strongest correlation with the AUD of cefoperazone/sulbactam and piperacillin/tazobactam, and was significantly correlated with the AUD of cefmetazole, cefoxitin, cefotaxime, cefuroxime, mezlocillin and sulbacillin. There was no significant correlation between AUD and drug resistance rate of the third generation cephalosporins, quinolones and carbapenems. However, the resistance rate to the third generation cephalosporins was correlated with the AUD of amoxicillin clavulanate potassium and mezlocillin, and the resistance rate to quinolones was correlated with the AUD of cefazolin and penicillin.

CONCLUSION  There is a complex macro quantitative relationship between the BRR and the AUD of antibiotics. The Mantel test can be used to visually analyze the correlation between the AUD and BRR matrices as a whole, intuitively demonstrating the correlation of complex multidimensional data and improving the efficiency of monitoring antibacterial drugs and bacterial resistance. It is an effective means to formulate anti infective treatment plans and antimicrobial drug control plans.