Unnecessary Antibiotic Therapy Remains Common Among Inpatients With COVID-19 Or Other Viral ARTIs, Study Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (4/30, Nye) reports a study found that “antibiotic stewardship interventions are still needed to address unnecessary antibiotic prescribing among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or other viral acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs).” Researchers observed that “between March 2020 and December 2023, the percentage of patients with COVID-19 who were prescribed antibiotics declined from 82.7% to 33.8%, with the lowest rate (33.8%) observed in May 2022. Data captured from patients with other viral ARTIs showed antibiotics were prescribed to 55.8% in January 2019, 64.7% in July 2019, and 40.0% in December 2020.” In an adjusted analysis, “patients with COVID-19 were significantly less likely to be prescribed at least 1 dose of antibiotic therapy during the study period than those with other viral ARTIs.” The study was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.