Antibiotic prescription in hospitalized patients with covid-19 in a private hospital in caracas: Retrospective study

Background: There is little information on the prevalence of bacterial coinfection and use of antibiotics in hospitalized CO-VID-19 patients. The present study assesses the frequency of in-hospital antibiotic prescription, the bacterial cultures im-plementation and the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 according to the use of antibiotics. Methods: Ret-rospective, observational study of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The ISARIC-WHO form was used for data col-lection. Results: 145 patients were included, 95 men and 50 women, with a mean age 63.8±16.0 years. 79/145 (54.5%) patients received antibiotics, 52/145 (35%) had samples for culture and 49/145 (33.8%) were blood cultures. Pathogenic bacteria were isolated only in 7% of the patients. The patients with antibiotics had worse oxygenation, chest tomography and inflammatory markers, more admission to ICU, deaths, and prolonged hospital stay. Conclusion: Our results do not support the initial widespread use of antibiotics in hospitalized COVID-19 patients without knowing the pathogen and its susceptibility.