Abstract
Background: COPD exacerbations (AE-COPD) add up to over 200,000 hospitalization days annually in the Netherlands. Viral respiratory infections play a role in about half of COPD exacerbations. Although the prevalence of bacterial superinfection is estimated 10–40% in admitted AE-COPD patients with an influenza infection, the majority is treated with antibiotics. Current national and international guidelines provide limited guidance regarding antibiotic use in hospitalized patients with an AE-COPD with proven viral respiratory pathogens. Study Goal: We aimed to investigate antibiotic prescription in hospitalized patients with a COPD exacerbation and an influenza-or RS virus infection. Patients and methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in patients admitted with an AE-COPD and influenza-or RS virus infection. We compared clinical characteristics of patients with and without antibiotic treatment on admission and estimated adequacy of antibiotic prescriptions. Results: We included 134 patients. Seventy-nine (59%) received antibiotics on admission. Chest X-ray infiltrates and plasma CRP level (≥50 mg/L) were correlated with the prescription of antibiotics. Outcomes, such as number of hospitalized days and mortality, were not significantly different between the groups with and without antibiotic treatment. Antibiotic treatment was considered “probably adequate” in 52/79 (65.8%) patients; “not necessary” in 12/79 patients (15.2%) and “probably not necessary” in another 15/79 patients (19.0%). Conclusion: Prescription of antibiotics in hospitalized COPD patients is common practice despite a proven viral infection on admission. A significant antibiotic reduction of 34.2% in these patients seems feasible. Future guidelines should include recommendations regarding antibiotic stewardship in hospitalized patients with AE-COPD with a proven viral respiratory infection.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1261-1267 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | International Journal of COPD |
| Volume | 17 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Dr Johannes in ‘t Veen reports grants from Chiesi and Astra Zeneca; personal fees from Novartis and Sanofi, outside the submitted work. Dr Gert-Jan Braunstahl reports grants and/or personal fees from GSK, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, Chiesi, ALK ABello, Novartis, and Teva, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 van Brummelen et al.
