Study: COVID had mixed impact on US outpatient antibiotic use
A review of national prescription drug data finds a mixed picture on US outpatient antibiotic use in 2020, researchers reported yesterday in JAMA Network Open.
Using IQVIA National Prescription Audit data, researchers with the University of Pittsburgh and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System analyzed monthly prescription fills for commonly used outpatient antibiotics, including amoxicillin, azithromycin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, doxycycline, cephalexin, nitrofurantoin, ciprofloxacin, and levofloxacin.
Their analysis found that during the first quarter of 2020 (January through March), prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, mean monthly fills of each agent did not differ from anticipated values, which were based on prescription fill volumes from 2015 through 2019.
But in quarters 2 (April through June), 3 (July through September), and 4 (October through December), the mean monthly fills of amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, and doxycycline were significantly lower than anticipated (amoxicillin, 25.3% to 44.1% decrease; amoxicillin-clavulanate, 30.1% to 40%; doxycycline, 17.8% to 20.7%).
Azithromycin fills were 35.4% lower in quarter 2 and 31.8% lower in quarter 4. Mean monthly cephalexin fills were 10.1% lower in quarter 4, and clindamycin fills were 4.8% lower than anticipated in quarter 3.
Mean monthly ciprofloxacin fills were 12.2% and 14.3% higher in quarters 3 and 4, respectively, reversing a 5-year trend of reductions in ciprofloxacin use.
The study authors say the reasons for the prescription patterns are unclear but suggest that widespread masking and other COVID-19 preventive measures may have curbed the type of bacterial respiratory infections that amoxicillin, azithromycin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, and doxycycline are used to treat. The lack of sustained reductions in cephalexin and clindamycin use and the increase in ciprofloxacin use may reflect their primary use against urinary tract and skin infections.
"We cannot exclude an association of factors unrelated to COVID-19, such as greater attention to antibiotic stewardship," they wrote. "Further studies of antibiotic consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic are needed, with particular attention to drivers and appropriateness of use, regional differences, and antibiotic resistance."
Sep 22 JAMA Netw Open study
Trial: Kids with chest infections don't benefit from antibiotics
A randomized trial involving children with uncomplicated chest infections found that amoxicillin did not reduce the duration or severity of symptoms compared with placebo, British researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet.
The ARTIC (Antibiotics for lower Respiratory Tract Infection in Children) PC trial randomly assigned children 6 months to 12 years who had acute uncomplicated lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) to receive either 50 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) amoxicillin or placebo in three daily doses for 7 days. Both patients and investigators were masked to treatment assignment. The primary outcome was the duration of symptoms rated moderately bad or worse for up to 28 days or until symptoms resolved.
A total of 432 children were enrolled in the study from November 2019 to March 2020, with 221 assigned to the antibiotics group and 211 to the placebo group. Key baseline characteristics were similar across the treatment groups. Complete data on symptom duration was available for 317 children. The median duration of moderately bad or worse symptoms was similar in the antibiotics group (5 days), compared with the placebo group (6 days), for a hazard ratio of 1.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90 to 1.42).
No differences between the treatment groups were observed in any of the five prespecified subgroups (patients with chest signs, fever, physician rating of unwell, sputum or chest rattle, and shortness of breath), although the effect of antibiotics was slightly, but not significantly, greater in those with fever or who were unwell. There was no evidence of additional complications in children in the placebo group.
The study authors note that this is one of the few studies to examine effectiveness of antibiotics in young children with chest infections. Recent UK data shows at least 40% of children with chest infections receive antibiotics.
"Our results suggest that antibiotics do not provide a clinically important benefit on average for symptom reduction nor symptom severity," they wrote. "Unless pneumonia is suspected, clinicians should provide so-called safety-netting advice (ie, explain what illness course to expect and when it would be necessary to reattend) but not prescribe antibiotics for most children presenting with chest infections."
Sep 22 Lancet study