TY - JOUR
AU - Mustafa, Zia Ul
AU - Khan, Amer Hayat
AU - Harun, Sabariah Noor
AU - Salman, Muhammad
AU - Godman, Brian
PY - 2023
DA - March
TI - Antibiotic overprescribing among neonates and children hospitalized with COVID-19 in Pakistan and the implications
JO - Antibiotics
VL - 12
IS - 4
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12040646 10.3390/antibiotics12040646
AB - There are concerns with excessive antibiotic prescribing among patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Most studies have been conducted in adults with limited data on neonates and children including in Pakistan. A retrospective study was conducted among four referral/tertiary care hospitals including the clinical manifestations, la-boratory findings, the prevalence of bacterial co-infections or secondary bacterial infections and antibiotics prescribed among neonates and children hospitalized due to COVID-19. Among 1237 neonates and children, 511 were admitted to the COVID-19 wards and 433 were finally included in the study. The majority of admitted children were COVID-19 positive (85.9%) with severe COVID-19 (38.2%), and 37.4% were admitted to ICU. The prevalence of bacterial co-infections or secondary bacterial infections was 3.7%; however, 85.5% were prescribed antibiotics during their hospital stay (average 1.70 ± 0.98 antibiotics per patient). 54.3% were prescribed two antibiotics via the parenteral route (75.5%) for ≤ 5 days (57.5), with most being ‘Watch’ antibiotics (80.6%). In-creased antibiotic prescribing was reported among patients requiring mechanical ventilation and high WBCs, CRP, D-Dimer and ferritin levels (p &lt; 0.001). Increased COVID-19 severity, length of stay and hospital setting were significantly associated with antibiotic prescribing (p &lt; 0.001). Ex-cessive antibiotic prescribing among hospitalized neonates and children despite very low bacterial co-infections or secondary bacterial infections requires urgent attention to reduce AMR.
PB - MDPI
UR - https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/84889/
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Children, young people and families
KW - Hospital care
ER