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|Articles|August 26, 2020
COVID-19 Hospital Data Reveal Rush to Antibiotics
Author(s)Grant M. Gallagher
Soon after visiting 38 hospitals in Michigan, over half of patients hospitalized with suspected COVID-19 received antibiotics.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can present with bacterial coinfection, but concerns about
Soon after visiting 38 hospitals in Michigan, over half of patients hospitalized with suspected COVID-19 received antibiotics, according to authors of a new study in
Patients were feared to have a bacterial coinfection alongside COVID-19.
But testing later showed that 96.5% of patients only had the coronavirus, making the antibiotic prescriptions superfluous.
Data were collected between 3/13/2020-6/18/2020.
Out of a total 1705 patients with COVID-19, 56.6% were prescribed early empiric antibacterial therapy. Only 3.5% (59/1705) had a confirmed community-onset bacterial infection.
Across the 38 hospitals, early empiric antibacterial use varied greatly from 27%-84%.
“Over time, COVID-19 test turnaround time (returned ≤1 day in March [54.2%, 461/850] vs. in April [85.2%, 628/737], P<.001) and empiric antibacterial use (ARR: 0.71 [0.63-0.81] April vs. March) decreased,” authors reported.
Despite a low prevalence of confirmed community-onset bacterial coinfection, half of patients received early empiric antibacterial therapy.
Antibiotic prescribing in reaction to the pandemic varied widely by hospital.
“Reducing COVID-19 test turnaround time and supporting stewardship could improve antibacterial use,” study authors concluded.
Continuing Antibiotic Stewardship in a Pandemic
Debbie Goff, PharmD, describes how antimicrobial stewardship work has continued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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