The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Antibiotic Prescribing Trends in Outpatient Care: A Nationwide, Quasi-Experimental Approach

Antibiotics

Eva Rebelo Gomes¹  Maria Piñeiro-Lamas²  Adolfo Figueiras²  Maria Teresa Herdeiro³  Marta Estrela³  Tânia Magalhães Silva³  Fátima Roque⁴ 

[1] Allergy and Clinical Immunology Service, University Hospital Center of Porto, 4099 Porto, Portugal;Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health—CIBERESP), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain;Department of Medical Sciences, iBiMED—Institute of Biomedicine, University of Aveiro, 3810 Aveiro, Portugal;Research Unit for Inland Development, Guarda Polytechnic Institute (UDI-IPG), 6300 Guarda, Portugal;

关键词: antibiotics;    COVID-19;    prescription;    outpatient care;    Portugal;   

DOI  :  10.3390/antibiotics10091040

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread globally and is currently having a damaging impact on nearly all countries in the world. The implementation of stringent measures to stop COVID-19 dissemination had an influence on healthcare services and associated procedures, possibly causing antibiotic consumption fluctuations. This paper aims to evaluate the immediate and long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic prescribing trends in outpatient care of the Portuguese public health sector, including in primary healthcare centers and hospitals, as well as on specific antibiotic groups known to be closely associated with increased resistance. Segmented regression analysis with interrupted time series data was used to analyze whether the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact in antibiotic prescribing tendencies at a national level. The outcomes from this quasi-experimental approach demonstrate that, at the beginning of the pandemic, a significant, immediate decrease in the overall antibiotic prescribing trends was noticed in the context of outpatient care in Portugal, followed by a statistically non-significant fall over the long term. The data also showed a significant reduction in the prescription of particular antibiotic classes (antibiotics from the Watch group, 3rd-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and clarithromycin) upon COVID-19 emergence. These findings revealed an important disruption in antibiotics prescribing caused by the current public health emergency.

【 授权许可】

Unknown