Outpatient prescription patterns of COVID-19 drugs in the metropolitan area of Mexico City.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to describe the use of drugs with apparent efficacy in ambulatory patients with confirmed COVID-19 and the relationship of Google Trends searches with prescriptions and the total number of COVID-19 cases in Mexico City. METHODS: Between March 2020 and February 2021, we surveyed 350 patients confirmed to have COVID-19 across 3 hospitals in Mexico City for their ambulatory prescriptions. We analysed the correlation between prescription patterns of 4 drugs with apparent efficacy against COVID-19, Google Trends searches for these drugs, and the overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mexico City. RESULTS: We included 350 patients, of whom 59% were women with a median age of 38 years (interquartile range, 29-51), and 72% had a bachelor's degree or higher. There were ambulatory medical prescriptions in 172 (49%) patients, and self-prescriptions were reported in 99 (28%) patients. The prescription rate was high for hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin (19%) and dexamethasone (25%). There was a decrease in the prescription of hydroxychloroquine (P < 0.001) and a strong positive correlation between hydroxychloroquine (r = 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.11-0.90; P = 0.02) prescription and online searches for hydroxychloroquine. There was a strong positive correlation between online searches for azithromycin, dexamethasone, ivermectin, and vitamin D and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a high proportion of prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin and dexamethasone despite their unproven efficacy. Analysis of Google Trends showed a strong correlation between the overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and searches for such drugs, suggesting a higher rate of prescriptions. Analysis of online searches could thus help to actively survey public health behaviours in the future.

Main Predictors of Decreasing in Quality of Life in Patients With Post-COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess physical and psychosomatic manifestations of patients with long COVID and their association with a decreased patient's quality of life (QOL) or different times elapsed since the COVID-19 diagnosis. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. We retrospectively collected the clinical characteristics of adult patients who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and had symptoms at least as early as 4 weeks after COVID-19 in México City between April 2020 and February 2021. A total of 179 were included. They answered questions to define chronic symptoms. The Sniffin' Sticks Screening 12 test olfactory evaluation was performed. The diminish of QOL was defined by ≥10 points in the EuroQol visual analog scale between pre- and post-COVID-19, and each dimension of EQ-5D-5L test was evaluated. Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, Student t test, Wilcoxon rank-sum, and signed-rank test were used as required. A backward stepwise logistic regression analysis determined the factors associated with a decrease in QOL. All analyses were performed using R software version 3.6.3 (R Foundation). RESULTS: In the multivariable analysis, post-COVID-19 pain/discomfort (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.5 [1.66-9.68]; P = .01), anxiety/depression (aOR 13 [1.44-17.23]; P = .03), and persistence of ≥3 symptoms (aOR 2.6 [0.96-7.47]; P = .05) remained statistically significant associated with decreased QOL. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with long COVID-19 have decreased QOL mainly associated with pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression, and ≥3 persistent symptoms. Our findings enhanced the notion of a strong psychosomatic factors involved with long COVID-19. Therefore, these patients might benefit from neuropsychological rehabilitation, although the effect of such interventions should be evaluated.