Antimicrobial Prescribing Patterns in Patients with COVID-19 in Russian Multi-Field Hospitals in 2021: Results of the Global-PPS Project

Sergey Avdeev; Svetlana Rachina; Yuliya Belkova; Roman Kozlov; Ann Versporten; Ines Pauwels; Herman Goossens; Elena Bochanova; Elena Elokhina; Ulyana Portnjagina; Olga Reshetko; Igor Sychev; Darya Strelkova; On Behalf Of Russian Global-Pps Project Study Group

doi:10.3390/tropicalmed7050075

Antimicrobial Prescribing Patterns in Patients with COVID-19 in Russian Multi-Field Hospitals in 2021: Results of the Global-PPS Project

Trop Med Infect Dis. 2022 May 16;7(5):75. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed7050075.

Affiliations

¹ First Moscow State Medical University, 119435 Moscow, Russia.
² Smolensk State Medical University, 214019 Smolensk, Russia.
³ Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium.
⁴ Krasnoyarsk State Medical University n.a. Professor V. F. Voyno-Yasenetsky, 660022 Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
⁵ Omsk Regional Clinical Hospital, 644111 Omsk, Russia.
⁶ North-Eastern Federal University, 677007 Yakutsk, Russia.
⁷ Saratov State Medical University n.a. V. I. Razumovsky, 410000 Saratov, Russia.
⁸ City Clinical Hospital n.a. S.S. Yudin, 117198 Moscow, Russia.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health challenge with understudied effects on antimicrobial usage. We aimed to analyze antimicrobial prescribing patterns in COVID-19 patients in Russian multi-field hospitals by means of the Global-PPS Project developed by the University of Antwerp. Out of 999 patients in COVID-19 wards in six hospitals surveyed in 2021, 51.3% received antimicrobials (79% in intensive care, 47.5% in medical wards). Systemic antivirals and antibiotics were prescribed to 31% and 35.1% of patients, respectively, and a combination of both to 14.1% of patients. The top antivirals administered were favipiravir (65%), remdesivir (19.2%), and umifenovir (15.8%); the top antibiotics were ceftriaxone (29.7%), levofloxacin (18%), and cefoperazone/sulbactam (10.4%). The vast majority of antibiotics was prescribed for treatment of pneumonia or COVID-19 infection (59.3% and 25.1%, respectively). Treatment was based on biomarker data in 42.7% of patients but was targeted only in 29.6% (6.7% for antibiotics). The rate of non-compliance with guidelines reached 16.6%. Antimicrobial prescribing patterns varied considerably in COVID-19 wards in Russian hospitals with groundlessly high rates of systemic antibiotics. Antimicrobial usage surveillance and stewardship should be applied to inpatient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; antimicrobials; hospital; point prevalence survey.

Grants and funding

The Global Point Prevalence Survey (Global-PPS) is funded by bioMérieux through an unrestricted grant given annually to the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Funding number is not available.