ArticleJournal of pharmaceutical policy and practice2022
The landscape of antibiotic usage among COVID-19 patients in the early phase of pandemic: a Malaysian national perspective.
Article in Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Landscape of national antibiotic utilisation in Malaysia: an analysis of national pharmaceutical sales data from 2019 to 2023.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- In-hospital antimicrobial use and multidrug-resistant infections among COVID-19 patients in Northern Malaysia (COVAM): a multicentre study.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- Hospital prescribing patterns of antibiotics in Zambia using the WHO prescribing indicators post-COVID-19 pandemic: findings and implications.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
- Is there a correlation between antibiotic use and the severity or post-infection conditions of COVID-19 and other viral infections?Clinical and experimental medicine · 2023Review
- Formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs) in the electrochemical oxidation of polluted waters with pharmaceuticals used against COVID-19.Journal of environmental chemical engineering · 2023Article
- Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and chemical markers in campus dormitories in an evolving COVID - 19 pandemic.Journal of hazardous materials · 2023Article
- The Assessment of Multiplex PCR in Identifying Bacterial Infections in Patients Hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Systematic Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Fish Epidermal Mucus as a Source of Diverse Therapeutical Compounds.International journal of peptide research and therapeutics · 2023Review
- WHO AWaRe classification for antibiotic stewardship: tackling antimicrobial resistance - a descriptive study from an English NHS Foundation Trust prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to COVID-19 infection, related behavior, antibiotics usage, and resistance among Syrian population: A cross-sectional study.Health science reports · 2022Article
- Profile of Co-Infection Prevalence and Antibiotics Use among COVID-19 Patients.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Plethora of Antibiotics Usage and Evaluation of Carbapenem Prescribing Pattern in Intensive Care Units: A Single-Center Experience of Malaysian Academic Hospital.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- In-Hospital Antibiotic Use for COVID-19: Facts and Rationales Assessed through a Mixed-Methods Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDuring the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, antibiotic usage among COVID-19 patients was noted to be high in many countries. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibiotic usage and factors affecting antibiotic usage among COVID-19 patients during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.
methodsThis was a cross-sectional study that involved reviewing medical records of COVID-19 Malaysian patients aged 12 and above who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and received treatment in 18 COVID-19 hospitals from February to April 2020. A minimum sample of 375 patients was required. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with antibiotic usage. Variables with p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
resultsA total of 4043 cases were included for analysis. The majority of the patients (87.6%) were non-smokers, male (65.0%), and had at least one comorbidity (37.0%). The median age was 35 years (IQR: 38). The prevalence of antibiotic usage was 17.1%, with 5.5% of them being prescribed with two or more types of antibiotics. The most frequent antibiotics prescribed were amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (37.8%), ceftriaxone (12.3%), piperacillin/tazobactam (13.3%), azithromycin (8.3%), and meropenem (7.0%). Male patients (adjusted OR 1.53), who had a comorbidity (adjusted OR 1.36), associated with more severe stage of COVID-19 (adjusted OR 6.50-37.06), out-of-normal range inflammatory blood parameters for neutrophils, lymphocytes, and C-reactive protein (adjusted OR 2.04-3.93), corticosteroid use (adjusted OR 3.05), and ICU/HDU admission (adjusted OR 2.73) had higher odds of antibiotic use.
conclusionsThe prevalence of antibiotic usage in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic was low, with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid as the most common antibiotic of choice. The study showed that clinicians rationalized antibiotic usage based on clinical assessment, supported by relevant laboratory parameters.
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