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Increased Use of Antibiotics in the Intensive Care Unit During Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in a Brazilian Hospital

Silva, Alice Ramos Oliveira
Salgado, Diamantino Ribeiro
Lopes, Luis Phillipe Nagem
Castanheira, Débora
Emmerick, Isabel Cristina Martins
Lima, Elisangela Costa
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Abstract

Background: Microbial drug resistance is one of the biggest public health problems. Antibiotic consumption is an essential factor for the emergence and spread of multiresistant bacteria. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the antibiotics consumption in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), identifying trends in the antibiotics use profile and microbiological isolates throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We performed this retrospective observational study in intensive care units of a Brazilian tertiary hospital from January 2019 to December 2020. The primary outcome was antimicrobial consumption in the ICU, measured by defined daily doses (DDDs) per 100 bed-days. As a secondary outcome, bacterial infections (microbiological isolates) were calculated in the same fashion. Outcomes trends were analyzed using Joinpoint regression models, considering constant variance (homoscedasticity) and first-order autocorrelation assumptions. A monthly percent change (MPC) was estimated for each analyzed segment. Results: Seven thousand and nine hundred fifty-three patients had data available on prescribed and received medications and were included in the analyses. Overall, the use of antibiotics increased over time in the ICU. The reserve group (World Health Organization Classification) had an increasing trend (MPC = 7.24) from February to April 2020. The azithromycin consumption (J01FA) increased rapidly, with a MPC of 5.21 from January to April 2020. Polymyxin B showed a relevant increase from March to June 2020 (MPC = 6.93). The peak of the antibiotic consumption of Reserve group did not overlap with the peak of the pathogenic agents they are intended to treat. Conclusion: Overall antimicrobial consumption in ICU has increased in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The peaks in the antimicrobial's use were not associated with the rise of the pathogenic agents they intended to treat, indicating an empirical use, which is especially concerning in the context of treating multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections. This fact may contribute to the depletion of the therapeutic arsenal for MDR treatment.

Source

Silva ARO, Salgado DR, Lopes LPN, Castanheira D, Emmerick ICM, Lima EC. Increased Use of Antibiotics in the Intensive Care Unit During Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in a Brazilian Hospital. Front Pharmacol. 2021 Dec 10;12:778386. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.778386. PMID: 34955847; PMCID: PMC8703131.

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10.3389/fphar.2021.778386
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34955847
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Copyright © 2021 Silva, Salgado, Lopes, Castanheira, Emmerick and Lima. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Attribution 4.0 International