ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2021
Antimicrobial stewardship in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based cohort study and interrupted time-series analysis.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed.
- A multifaceted intervention to reduce antibiotic prescribing among CHIldren with acute COugh and respiratory tract infection: the CHICO cluster RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2023Trial
- Multi-faceted intervention to improve management of antibiotics for children presenting to primary care with acute cough and respiratory tract infection (CHICO): efficient cluster randomised controlled trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Trial
- Changes in Uropathogen Distribution in Relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic Timeline.International urogynecology journal · 2026Article
- Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: Implications for Antimicrobial Stewardship for COVID-19 Management.Journal of Korean medical science · 2026Review
- Public knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotic use across England - pre- and post-pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Prevalence and Antibiogram Pattern ofAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Observational study of antibiotic prescribing patterns by age and sex in primary care in England: why we need to take this variation into account to evaluate antibiotic stewardship and predict AMR variation.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Comparing indicators of disease severity among patients presenting to hospital for urinary tract infections before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
- Antimicrobial consumption in an acute NHS Trust during the COVID-19 pandemic: intervention time series analysis.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
- The Trend of Antibiotic Consumption After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Approach to Future Outbreaks.Infection and drug resistance · 2024Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment of common infections in primary care and the change to antibiotic prescribing in England.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2023Article
- Leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment to assess changes in antibiotic use and antibiotic-resistant E. coli carriage in semi-rural Ecuador.Scientific reports · 2023Observational
- Impact of COVID-19 on broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing for common infections in primary care in England: a time-series analyses using OpenSAFELY and effects of predictors including deprivation.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2023Article
- Consultation Rate and Mode by Deprivation in English General Practice From 2018 to 2022: Population-Based Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Carbapenem use correlates with percentage of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units.Infection · 2023Article
- Sustained increases in antibiotic prescriptions per primary care consultation for upper respiratory tract infections in England during the COVID-19 pandemic.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2023Article
- Temporal trends in microbial detection during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of the Japan surveillance for Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology (J-SIPHE) database.Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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3 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has altered the context for antimicrobial stewardship in primary care.
aimTo assess the effect of the pandemic on antibiotic prescribing, accounting for changes in consultations for respiratory and urinary tract infections (RTIs/UTIs). DESIGN AND
settingPopulation-based cohort study using the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD database from January 2017 to September 2020.
methodInterrupted time-series analysis evaluated changes in antibiotic prescribing and RTI/UTI consultations adjusting for age, sex, season, and secular trends. The authors assessed the proportion of COVID-19 episodes associated with antibiotic prescribing.
resultsThere were 253 655 registered patients in 2017 and 232 218 in 2020, with 559 461 antibiotic prescriptions, 216 110 RTI consultations, and 36 402 UTI consultations. Compared with prepandemic months, March 2020 was associated with higher antibiotic prescribing (adjusted rate ratio [ARR] 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11 to 1.16). Antibiotic prescribing fell below predicted rates between April and August 2020, reaching a minimum in May (ARR 0.73; 95% CI = 0.71 to 0.75). Pandemic months were associated with lower rates of RTI/UTI consultations, particularly in April for RTIs (ARR 0.23; 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.25). There were small reductions in the proportion of RTI consultations with antibiotic prescribed and no reduction for UTIs. Among 25 889 COVID-19 patients, 2942 (11%) had antibiotics within a COVID-19 episode.
conclusionPandemic months were initially associated with increased antibiotic prescribing, which then fell below expected levels during the national lockdown. Findings are reassuring that antibiotic stewardship priorities have not been neglected because of COVID-19. Research is required into the effects of reduced RTI/UTI consultations on incidence of serious bacterial infections.
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