TY - JOUR
AU - Chowdhury, Kona
AU - Haque, Mainul
AU - Nusrat, Nadia
AU - Adnan, Nihad
AU - Islam, Salequl
AU - Lutfor, Afzalunnessa Binte
AU - Begum, Dilara
AU - Rabbany, Arif
AU - Karim, Enamul
AU - Malek, Abdul
AU - Jahan, Nasim
AU - Akter, Jesmine
AU - Ashraf, Sumala
AU - Hasan, Mohammad Nazmul
AU - Hassan, Mahmuda
AU - Akhter, Najnin
AU - Mazumder, Monika
AU - Sihan, Nazmus
AU - Naher, Nurun
AU - Akter, Shaheen
PY - 2022
DA - January
TI - Management of children admitted to hospitals across Bangladesh with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and the implications for the future : a nationwide cross-sectional study
JO - Antibiotics
VL - 11
IS - 1
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11010105
AB - There is an increasing focus on researching children admitted to hospital with new variants of COVID-19, combined with concerns with hyperinflammatory syndromes and the overuse of antimicrobials. Paediatric guidelines have been produced in Bangladesh to improve their care. Consequently, the objective is to document the management of children with COVID-19 among 24 hospitals in Bangladesh. Key outcome measures included the percentage prescribed different antimicrobials, adherence to paediatric guidelines and mortality rates using purposely developed report forms. The majority of 146 admitted children were aged 5 years or under (62.3%) and were boys (58.9%). Reasons for admission included fever, respiratory distress and coughing; 86.3% were prescribed antibiotics, typically parenterally, on the WHO 'Watch' list, and empirically (98.4%). There were no differences in antibiotic use whether hospitals followed paediatric guidance or not. There was no prescribing of antimalarials and limited prescribing of antivirals (5.5% of children) and antiparasitic medicines (0.7%). The majority of children (92.5%) made a full recovery. It was encouraging to see the low hospitalisation rates and limited use of antimalarials, antivirals and antiparasitic medicines. However, the high empiric use of antibiotics, alongside limited switching to oral formulations, is a concern that can be addressed by instigating the appropriate programmes.
PB - MDPI
UR - https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/79130/
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Children, young people and families
KW - Hospital care
ER