We performed a point prevalence survey of antimicrobial use in Chinese hospitals in 2012.
The survey included 786,028 inpatients in 1,313 hospitals.
Antimicrobial use prevalence was 38.39%, and bacterial culture rate was 40.16%.
Antimicrobial use prevalence decreased as hospital beds increased.
Small hospitals should be targets for future antimicrobial stewardship in China.