Bivalent boosters offer added protection for previously vaccinated … – University of Minnesota Twin Cities

A study of three hospitals in Chicago found that increased use of antibiotics at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic was limited to COVID-19 patients, researchers reported yesterday in Infection Control & Epidemiology.

To determine differences in antibiotic use between COVID-19 and nonCOVID-19 patients, a team led by researchers from Rush University Medical Center analyzed electronic health record data from three tertiary acute-care hospitals covering the preCOVID-19 period (March to December 2019) and the COVID-19 period (March to December 2020). They stratified patients by COVID-19 status, calculated relative percentage differences in antibiotic use in COVID-19 versus nonCOVID-19 patients during the two periods, and also compared antibiotic use in nonCOVID-19 patients during the two periods.

Facility-wide antibiotic use for all antibiotics was significantly greater in COVID-19 patients compared with nonCOVID-19 patients in two of three hospitals during the COVID-19 period, and use of broad-spectrum agents for hospital-onset infections was significantly greater in COVID-19 patients versus nonCOVID-19 patients in all three hospitals during both the COVID-19 period (with relative increases of 73%, 66%, and 91% for hospitals A, B, and C, respectively) and the preCOVID-19 period (with relative increases of 52%, 64%, and 66% for hospitals A, B, and C, respectively).

In contrast, facility-wide antibiotic use for all antibacterial agents was significantly lower in nonCOVID-19 patients during the COVID-19 period versus the preCOVID-19 period (with relative decreases of 8%, 7%, and 8% in hospitals A, B, and C, respectively).

The study authors say the increased use of broad-spectrum antibiotics at the beginning of the pandemic "likely resulted from the diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainty in the context of high mortality rates," while reduced antibiotic use in nonCOVID-19 patients during that period could reflect both the durability of antimicrobial stewardship efforts and changes in inpatient populations.

"Elective procedures were deferred, admissions for less critical illnesses were reduced, and the most chronically ill patients who ordinarily would have been admitted for nonCOVID-19 indications may instead have been admitted with COVID-19," they wrote.

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Bivalent boosters offer added protection for previously vaccinated ... - University of Minnesota Twin Cities