ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022
Antibiotic Use in Suspected and Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Admitted to Health Facilities in Sierra Leone in 2020-2021: Practice Does Not Follow Policy.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 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
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Systematic Review of the Markers of Severity in Acute Respiratory Infections to Inform Primary Care Surveillance.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Carbapenem-ResistantAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The dual threat: exploring the emergence of human metapneumovirus and SARS-CoV-2 coinfections in respiratory infections.3 Biotech · 2025Review
- Increasing the use of the WHO AWaRe system in antibiotic surveillance and stewardship programmes in low- and middle-income countries.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Review
- Patterns of In-patient Antibiotic Use among COVID-19 Patients in a Tertiary Government Hospital: A Retrospective Cross-sectional Survey.Acta medica Philippina · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance inMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- Assessment of antimicrobial stewardship programmes and antibiotic use among children admitted to two hospitals in Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional study.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Article
- Antibiotic prescribing and bacterial infection in COVID-19 inpatients in Southeast Asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Review
- Time is running out. No excuses to delay implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programmes: impact, sustainability, resilience and efficiency through an interrupted time series analysis (2017-2022).JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
- Antimicrobial consumption in an acute NHS Trust during the COVID-19 pandemic: intervention time series analysis.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
- Hospital prescribing patterns of antibiotics in Zambia using the WHO prescribing indicators post-COVID-19 pandemic: findings and implications.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
- Epidemiological profiles and outcomes of healthcare workers hospitalized for COVID-19 in five Sub-Saharan African countries: a cohort study.F1000Research · 2024Article
- Antibiotic use among hospitalised patients in Sierra Leone: a national point prevalence survey using the WHO survey methodology.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on front-line healthcare workers in Sierra Leone: an explorative qualitative study.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Antibiotic use and consumption in Freetown, Sierra Leone: A baseline report of prescription stewardship in outpatient clinics of three tertiary hospitals.IJID regions · 2023Article
- Antibiotic Usage in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit of an Infectious Diseases Hospital from Nord-Eastern Romania.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and chemical markers in campus dormitories in an evolving COVID - 19 pandemic.Journal of hazardous materials · 2023Article
- Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Self-Medication Including Antibiotics among Health Care Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Pakistan: Findings and Implications.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Establishing an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in Sierra Leone: A Report of the Experience of a Low-Income Country in West Africa.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Antibiotic resistance and consumption before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Valle del Cauca, Colombia.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Inappropriate use of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to increase the burden of antimicrobial resistance. In this study, we report on the prevalence of antibiotic use and its associated factors among suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to 35 health facilities in Sierra Leone from March 2020-March 2021. This was a cross-sectional study using routinely collected patient data. Of 700 confirmed COVID-19 patients, 47% received antibiotics. The majority (73%) of the antibiotics belonged to the 'WATCH' group of antibiotics, which are highly toxic and prone to resistance. The most frequently prescribed antibiotics were azithromycin, ceftriaxone, amoxicillin, metronidazole, and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. Antibiotic use was significantly higher in patients aged 25-34 years than in those with severe disease. Of 755 suspected COVID-19 patients, 61% received antibiotics, of which the majority (58%) belonged to the 'WATCH' category. The most frequently prescribed antibiotics were ceftriaxone, metronidazole, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, and amoxycillin. The prevalence of antibiotic use among suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to healthcare facilities in Sierra Leone was high and not in line with national and WHO case management guidelines. Training of health care providers, strengthening of antimicrobial stewardship programs, and microbiological laboratory capacity are urgently needed.
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.