Impact of the pandemic on antimicrobial consumption patterns

SARS-CoV-2 probably changes the antibiotic consumption profile, and it is necessary to measure this difference. [...]our goal was to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on antimicrobial usage patterns comparing cohorts of SARS-CoV-2–positive and SARS-CoV-2–negative patients admitted in specific hospital locations. The overall antibiotic use in the hospital during the study period was 73.0 DOT per 100 PD. The highest rate of antimicrobial use occurred in the COVID-19 emergency department (218.1 DOT per 100 PD), followed by the COVID-19 clinical ward (172.4 DOT per 100 PD), the COVID-19 ICU (134.3 DOT per 100 PD), the non–COVID-19 ICU (109.2 DOT per 100 PD), the non–COVID-19 emergency department (70.4 DOT per 100 PD), and the non–COVID-19 clinical ward (62.4 DOT per 100 PD) (Table 1). Antimicrobial Consumption Measured by Days of Therapy (DOT) per 100 Patient Days (PD) Antibiotic Intensive Care Units, DOT per 100 PD COVID-19 Non–COVID-19 COVID-19/Non–COVID-19, % P Value All antibiotics 134.4 109.2 123.1