Changing trends in the global consumption of treatments used in hospitalized patients for COVID-19: a time series multicentre study
Aim: To analyze trends in the prescription of COVID-19 treatments for hospitalized patients during the pandemic. Methods: Multicenter, ecological, time-series study of aggregate data for all adult patients with COVID-19 treated in five acute-care hospitals in Barcelona, Spain, between March 2020 and...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2023 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| Repositorio: | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:recercat.cat:10230/57824 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10230/57824 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12050809 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | COVID-19 treatments SARS-CoV-2 Antibiotics Antiviral drugs Immunomodulatory drugs Treatment trends |
| Sumario: | Aim: To analyze trends in the prescription of COVID-19 treatments for hospitalized patients during the pandemic. Methods: Multicenter, ecological, time-series study of aggregate data for all adult patients with COVID-19 treated in five acute-care hospitals in Barcelona, Spain, between March 2020 and May 2021. Trends in the monthly prevalence of drugs used against COVID-19 were analyzed by the Mantel-Haenszel test. Results: The participating hospitals admitted 22,277 patients with COVID-19 during the study period, reporting an overall mortality of 10.8%. In the first months of the pandemic, lopinavir/ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine were the most frequently used antivirals, but these fell into disuse and were replaced by remdesivir in July 2020. By contrast, the trend in tocilizumab use varied, first peaking in April and May 2020, declining until January 2021, and showing a discrete upward trend thereafter. Regarding corticosteroid use, we observed a notable upward trend in the use of dexamethasone 6 mg per day from July 2020. Finally, there was a high prevalence of antibiotics use, especially azithromycin, in the first three months, but this decreased thereafter. Conclusions: Treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 evolved with the changing scientific evidence during the pandemic. Initially, multiple drugs were empirically used that subsequently could not demonstrate clinical benefit. In future pandemics, stakeholders should strive to promote the early implementation of adaptive randomized clinical trials. |
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