SynthesisPloS one2022
Prevalence of bacterial coinfection and patterns of antibiotics prescribing in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 84 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 117 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Dynamics of clinicalApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Antibiotic Use, Bacterial Co-Infection, and Antimicrobial Resistance in Adults Hospitalized with COVID-19, Influenza, or RSV: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Patient Safety Implications of Opportunistic Pathogens and Healthcare-Associated Infections in COVID-19 Patients: A Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Paleopathology Meets Public Health: Deep-Time Syndemics and the Ecology of Emerging Infections.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Trends in Antimicrobial Consumption in Pakistan (2016-2028): Retrospective Observational Study With Forecasting.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Observational
- Patterns of Antibiotic Use in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients and Association with Secondary Infections and Outcomes.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Early antibiotic review and AWaRe prescribing in respiratory infections before vs during COVID-19: a two-hospital retrospective cohort study.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- Antibiotic and antiviral prescribing patterns among hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Mongolia: a real-world descriptive retrospective study.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- Real-world impact of point-of-care testing for SARS-CoV-2 in an ambulatory setting of an integrated health network.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2026Article
- Non-canonical Metatranscriptomic analysis of COVID-19 and Dengue reveals an expanded microbial and AMR landscape in COVID-19 mortality patients.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Association of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Polymorphisms with Clinical Severity in Patients with COVID-19.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Poor Prognosis of Pneumococcal Co-Infection in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.Infection & chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Antibiotic Use Among Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 Infection (SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant) in Oman: A Single-center Retrospective Study.Oman medical journal · 2025Article
- Pathogenic and periodontal bacteria may contribute to the fatal outcome of critically ill elderly COVID-19 patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The influence of pneumococcal positivity on clinical outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Reducing blood culture contamination: an environmental imperative.Access microbiology · 2025Article
- The effect of antibiotic prescription in non-critically ill hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A Japanese inpatient database study.PloS one · 2025Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEvidence around prevalence of bacterial coinfection and pattern of antibiotic use in COVID-19 is controversial although high prevalence rates of bacterial coinfection have been reported in previous similar global viral respiratory pandemics. Early data on the prevalence of antibiotic prescribing in COVID-19 indicates conflicting low and high prevalence of antibiotic prescribing which challenges antimicrobial stewardship programmes and increases risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
aimTo determine current prevalence of bacterial coinfection and antibiotic prescribing in COVID-19 patients. DATA SOURCE: OVID MEDLINE, OVID EMBASE, Cochrane and MedRxiv between January 2020 and June 2021. STUDY ELIGIBILITY: English language studies of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients which reported (a) prevalence of bacterial coinfection and/or (b) prevalence of antibiotic prescribing with no restrictions to study designs or healthcare setting.
participantsAdults (aged ≥ 18 years) with RT-PCR confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, regardless of study setting.
methodsSystematic review and meta-analysis. Proportion (prevalence) data was pooled using random effects meta-analysis approach; and stratified based on region and study design.
resultsA total of 1058 studies were screened, of which 22, hospital-based studies were eligible, compromising 76,176 of COVID-19 patients. Pooled estimates for the prevalence of bacterial co-infection and antibiotic use were 5.62% (95% CI 2.26-10.31) and 61.77% (CI 50.95-70.90), respectively. Sub-group analysis by region demonstrated that bacterial co-infection was more prevalent in North American studies (7.89%, 95% CI 3.30-14.18).
conclusionPrevalence of bacterial coinfection in COVID-19 is low, yet prevalence of antibiotic prescribing is high, indicating the need for targeted COVID-19 antimicrobial stewardship initiatives to reduce the global threat of AMR.
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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.