Antibiotics Use in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Literature Review.
J Clin Med
; 11(23)2022 Dec 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36498781
ABSTRACT
The issue of bacterial infections in COVID-19 patients has received increasing attention among scientists. Antibiotics were widely prescribed during the early phase of the pandemic. We performed a literature review to assess the reasons, evidence and practices on the use of antibiotics in COVID-19 in- and outpatients. Published articles providing data on antibiotics use in COVID-19 patients were identified through computerized literature searches on the MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases. Searching the MEDLINE database, the following search terms were adopted ((antibiotic) AND (COVID-19)). Searching the SCOPUS database, the following search terms were used ((antibiotic treatment) AND (COVID-19)). The risk of bias in the included studies was not assessed. Both quantitative and qualitative information were summarized by means of textual descriptions. Five-hundred-ninety-three studies were identified, published from January 2020 to 30 October 2022. Thirty-six studies were included in this systematic review. Of the 36 included studies, 32 studies were on the use of antibiotics in COVID-19 inpatients and 4 on antibiotic use in COVID-19 outpatients. Apart from the studies identified and included in the review, the main recommendations on antibiotic treatment from 5 guidelines for the clinical management of COVID-19 were also summarized in a separate paragraph. Antibiotics should not be prescribed during COVID-19 unless there is a strong clinical suspicion of bacterial coinfection or superinfection.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Guideline
/
Qualitative_research
/
Systematic_reviews
Language:
En
Journal:
J Clin Med
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italia