Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr 20;12(4):788.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12040788.

Antibiotic Consumption in a Cohort of Hospitalized Adults with Viral Respiratory Tract Infection

Sara Debes  1   2 , Jon Birger Haug  3 , Birgitte Freiesleben De Blasio  4   5 , Jonas Christoffer Lindstrøm  4 , Christine Monceyron Jonassen  6 , Susanne Gjeruldsen Dudman  2   7
Affiliations

Antibiotic Consumption in a Cohort of Hospitalized Adults with Viral Respiratory Tract Infection

Sara Debes et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Development of antibiotic resistance, a threat to global health, is driven by inappropriate antibiotic usage. Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are frequently treated empirically with antibiotics, despite the fact that a majority of the infections are caused by viruses. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibiotic treatment in hospitalized adults with viral RTIs, and to investigate factors influencing the antibiotic decision-making. We conducted a retrospective observational study of patients ≥ 18 years, hospitalized in 2015-2018 with viral RTIs. Microbiological data were taken from the laboratory information system and information on antibiotic treatment drawn from the hospital records. To investigate decisions for prescribing antibiotic treatment, we evaluated relevant factors such as laboratory and radiological results, in addition to clinical signs. In 951 cases without secondary bacterial RTIs (median age 73 years, 53% female), 720 (76%) were prescribed antibiotic treatment, most frequently beta-lactamase-sensitive penicillins, but cephalosporins were prescribed as first-line in 16% of the cases. The median length of treatment (LOT) in the patients treated with antibiotics was seven days. Patients treated with antibiotics had an average of two days longer hospital stay compared to patients with no such treatment, but no difference in mortality was found. Our study revealed that there is still a role for antimicrobial stewardship to further improve antibiotic use in patients admitted for viral RTIs in a country with relatively low antibiotic consumption.

Keywords: RSV; adults; antibiotic; decision-making; hospitalized; influenza; microbiology; viral respiratory tract infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart showing the selection of the study population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan-Meier analysis on length of stay comparing the groups of patients according to antibiotic treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Karakonstantis S., Kritsotakis E.I., Gikas A. Pandrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria: A systematic review of current epidemiology, prognosis and treatment options. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 2020;75:271–282. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkz401. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Report on Surveillance Geneva. 2014. [(accessed on 28 September 2022)]. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/112642.
    1. Jee Y., Carlson J., Rafai E., Musonda K., Huong T.T.G., Daza P., Sattayawuthipong W., Yoon T. Antimicrobial resistance: A threat to global health. Lancet Infect. Dis. 2018;18:939–940. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30471-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019. 2019. [(accessed on 30 August 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-....
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance Genva. 2015. [(accessed on 6 September 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241509763.

LinkOut - more resources