ArticleThe Journal of infectious diseases2021
Decreased Use of Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Epidemic in South Korea.
Article in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Collateral Impact of Public Health and Social Measures on Respiratory Virus Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic 2020-2021.Viruses · 2022Pooled it
- Changes in Antimicrobial Resistance in Pediatric Urinary Pathogens Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Hospital Antimicrobial Purchasing in Canada (2018-2021): An Exploratory Analysis.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2025Article
- Rebound of Antibiotic Use and Respiratory Infections After Resumption of Normalcy From COVID-19 in Hong Kong.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
- The Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease Sentinel Surveillance System in South Korea: Retrospective Evaluation Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Article
- The Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Antibiotic Prescriptions and Resistance in a University Hospital from Romania.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Use of antibiotics in Paediatric Primary Health Care before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiologia clinica (English ed.) · 2023Observational
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic consumption in the EU/European Economic Area: a changepoint analysis.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2023Article
- Characteristics of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Hospitalized Children Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2023Observational
- Analysis of Changes in Antibiotic Use Patterns in Korean Hospitals during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Antibiotic use in township hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Shandong, China.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2022Article
- Community antibiotic prescriptions during COVID-19 era: a population-based cohort study among adults.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2022Article
- [Use of antibiotics in Paediatric Primary Health Care before and during the COVID-19 pandemic].Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiologia clinica · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on Antimicrobial Consumption and Spread of Multidrug-Resistance in Bacterial Infections.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Decreased patient visits for ankle sprain during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea: A nationwide retrospective study.Preventive medicine reports · 2022Article
- High mortality among hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Peru: A single centre retrospective cohort study.PloS one · 2022Article
- The changing pattern of enteric pathogen infections in China during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nation-wide observational study.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2021Article
- COVID-19 containment measures and incidence of invasive bacterial disease.The Lancet. Digital health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEarly in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there was a concern over possible increase in antibiotic use due to coinfections among COVID-19 patients in the community. Here, we evaluate the changes in nationwide use of broad-spectrum antibiotics during the COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea.
methodsWe obtained national reimbursement data on the prescription of antibiotics, including penicillin with β-lactamase inhibitors, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and macrolides. We examined the number of antibiotic prescriptions compared with the previous 3 years in the same period from August to July. To quantify the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on antibiotic use, we developed a regression model adjusting for changes of viral acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs), which are an important factor driving antibiotic use.
resultsDuring the COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea, the broad-spectrum antibiotic use dropped by 15%-55% compared to the previous 3 years. Overall reduction in antibiotic use adjusting for ARTIs was estimated to be 14%-30%, with a larger impact in children.
conclusionsOur study found that broad-spectrum antibiotic use was substantially reduced during the COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea. This reduction can be in part due to reduced ARTIs as a result of stringent public health interventions including social distancing measures.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.