Increased Use of Antibiotics in the Intensive Care Unit During Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in a Brazilian Hospital

Background: Microbial drug resistance is one of the biggest public health problems. Antibiotic consumption is an essential factor for the emergence and spread of multiresistant bacteria. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the antibiotics consumption in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), identifying trends in the antibiotics use profile and microbiological isolates throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: We performed this retrospective observational study in intensive care units of a Brazilian tertiary hospital from January 2019 to December 2020. The primary outcome was antimicrobial consumption in the ICU, measured by defined daily doses (DDDs) per 100 bed-days. As a secondary outcome, bacterial infections (microbiological isolates) were calculated in the same fashion. Outcomes trends were analyzed using Joinpoint regression models, considering constant variance (homoscedasticity) and first-order autocorrelation assumptions. A monthly percent change (MPC) was estimated for each analyzed segment.Results: Seven thousand and nine hundred fifty-three patients had data available on prescribed and received medications and were included in the analyses. Overall, the use of antibiotics increased over time in the ICU. The reserve group (World Health Organization Classification) had an increasing trend (MPC = 7.24) from February to April 2020. The azithromycin consumption (J01FA) increased rapidly, with a MPC of 5.21 from January to April 2020. Polymyxin B showed a relevant increase from March to June 2020 (MPC = 6.93). The peak of the antibiotic consumption of Reserve group did not overlap with the peak of the pathogenic agents they are intended to treat.Conclusion: Overall antimicrobial consumption in ICU has increased in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The peaks in the antimicrobial’s use were not associated with the rise of the pathogenic agents they intended to treat, indicating an empirical use, which is especially concerning in the context of treating multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections. This fact may contribute to the depletion of the therapeutic arsenal for MDR treatment.

Decrease in community antibiotic consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, EU/EEA, 2020

We present a European Union/European Economic Area-wide overview of the changes in consumption of antibacterials for systemic use (ATC J01) in the community between 2019 and 2020 as reported to the European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption Network. Overall antibiotic consumption decreased by 18.3% between 2019 and 2020, the largest annual decrease in the network's two-decade history. We observed a strong association between the level of community antibiotic consumption in 2019 and the size of the decrease between 2019 and 2020.

165. Decreased Antimicrobial Consumption and Decreased Rates of Multi-drug Resistant Organisms Following Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience from an Australian Tertiary Hospital

Background Current guidelines recommend empiric antibiotics be used only for severe cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or in cases where there is high clinical suspicion for bacterial co-infection. Level of adherence to guideline-recommended prescribing is unknown and high rates of antimicrobial prescribing may lead to increased development of resistance. Methods We reviewed antimicrobial prescribing patterns for patients with COVID-19 managed at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia in 2020. Adherence to World Health Organization (WHO) guideline-based prescribing was assessed by manual review of case notes. Monthly hospital-wide antibacterial consumption April-Dec 2020 (post-pandemic period) was compared to Jan 2019-Mar 2020 (pre-pandemic period), measured as days of therapy (DOT) per 1000 patient-days. Rates of multi-drug resistant organisms (MRO) (including MRSA, VRE, CPE, ESBL) were compared between months in 2019 and 2020 after pandemic onset (April 2020) and expressed as isolates per 1000 patient-days. Results 147 patients were managed for COVID-19 in 2020 at our centre. 101 patients required hospital admission and 58 (39%) were classified as either severe or critical in severity. 80 (54%) patients received empiric antimicrobial treatment, including 78/101 (77%) of hospital inpatients and 24/26 (92%) of ICU-admitted patients. 59 (73%) of antimicrobial prescriptions were adherent to WHO guidelines. Monthly antibacterial consumption was significantly lower post-pandemic than in the pre-pandemic period (mean 853 vs 902 DOT/1000 patient-days, P=0.0065). Antimicrobial use patterns varied, with significant decreases in commonly used antibiotics such as ceftriaxone, piperacillin-tazobactam, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin but no change in vancomycin or meropenem (Figure 1). There was a mean decrease of 0.77 MRO isolates/1000 patient-days (P=0.026) when each month in 2020 was compared with the corresponding month in 2019 (Figure 2). Antibacterial consumption in 2019 and 2020 by month, expressed as days of therapy/1000 patient-days. Rates of isolated multi-drug resistant organisms in 2019 and 2020 by month, expressed as isolates/1000 patient-days. Conclusion A high proportion of admitted patients with COVID-19 received empiric antibiotics. In spite of this, we observed a significant reduction in total antimicrobial consumption and reduced rates of MRO isolation in the post-pandemic period. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

Antimicrobial consumption in pediatric intensive care units during the first year of COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: The absence of standardized treatment for critical children admitted in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) with COVID could lead to an increase in antimicrobial consumption, as indirect effect. Aim: To describe trends of antimicrobial consumption in two PICUs before and during the COVID pandemic year. Methods: We did a retrospective study in children admitted in two PICUs of Rio de Janeiro city, between March 2019 and March 2021. The first year represented the pre-pandemic period and the last one the pandemic period. Trends of antimicrobial consumption were measured by days of therapy (DOT/1000 patient-days) and analyzed by linear regression for antibiotics, antivirals and antifungals Results: Number of patients-days in the PICU 1 was 3495 in the pre-pandemic period and 3600 in the pandemic period. The overall DOT/1000 PD of antibiotics, antivirals and antifungal was 15,308.1, 942.8 and 1,691.1, respectively in the pre-pandemic period and 13,481.5, 1,335.4 and 1,243.7, respectively in pandemic period. It was verified trend of reduction of antibiotic and antifungals and increase in antivirals consumption. Number of patients-days in the PICU 2 was 5029 in the pre-pandemic period and 4557 in the pandemic period and the overall DOT/1000 PD of antibiotics, antivirals and antifungal was 16,668.5, 1,385 and 1,966.7, respectively in the pre-pandemic period and 10,896.5, 830.7 and 677.3 in pandemic period. It was verified trend of reduction of antibiotic, antivirals and antifungals consumption. Conclusion: Trends of antimicrobial consumption reduction were verified for antibiotics and antifungals in two PICUs and reduction for antiviral in one of them

Changes in antibiotic consumption, AMR and Clostridioides difficile infections in a large tertiary-care center following the implementation of institution-specific guidelines for antimicrobial therapy: A nine-year interrupted time series study

Background Institution-specific guidelines (ISGs) within the framework of antimicrobial stewardship programs offer locally tailored decision support taking into account local pathogen and resistance epidemiology as well as national and international guidelines. Objectives To assess the impact of ISGs for antimicrobial therapy on antibiotic consumption and subsequent changes in resistance rates and Clostridioides difficile infections (CDIs). Methods The study was conducted at the Leipzig University Hospital, a 1,451-bed tertiary-care medical center, and covered the years 2012 to 2020. Since 2014, ISGs were provided to optimize empirical therapies, appropriate diagnostics, and antimicrobial prophylaxis. We used interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) and simple linear regression to analyze changes in antimicrobial consumption, resistance and CDIs. Results Over the study period, 1,672,200 defined daily doses (DDD) of antibiotics were dispensed, and 85,645 bacterial isolates as well as 2,576 positive C. difficile cultures were collected. Total antimicrobial consumption decreased by 14% from 2012 to 2020, without clear impact of the deployment of ISGs. However, implementation of ISGs was associated with significant decreases in the use of substances that were rarely recommended (e.g., fluoroquinolones). Over the whole study period, we observed declining resistance rates to most antibiotic classes of up to 25% in Enterobacterales, staphylococci, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Switching from ceftriaxone to cefotaxime was associated with reduced resistance to third-generation cephalosporins. The number of CDI cases fell by 65%, from 501 in 2012 to 174 in 2020. Conclusions Well-implemented ISGs can have a significant, immediate, and lasting impact on the prescription behavior. ISGs might thereby contribute to reduce resistance rates and CDI incidences in the hospital setting.

Antibiotic Consumption and Its Relationship with Bacterial Resistance Profiles in ESKAPE Pathogens in a Peruvian Hospital

A descriptive design was carried out studying the correlation between antimicrobial consumption and resistance profiles of ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.) in a Peruvian hospital, including the surgical, clinical areas and the intensive care unit (ICU) during the time period between 2015 and 2018. There was a significant correlation between using ceftazidime and the increase of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolations (R = 0.97; p < 0.05) and the resistance to piperacillin/tazobactam in Enterobacter spp. and ciprofloxacin usage (R = 0.97; p < 0.05) in the medical wards. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistance to piperacillin/tazobactam and amikacin in the intensive care unit (ICU) had a significant reduction from 2015 to 2018 (67% vs. 28.6%, 65% vs. 34.9%, p < 0.001). These findings give valuable information about the rates and dynamics in the relationship between antibiotic usage and antimicrobial resistance patterns in a Peruvian hospital and reinforce the need for continuous support and assessment of antimicrobial stewardship strategies, including microbiological indicators and antimicrobial consumption patterns.