Abstract
Background. No national study has evaluated changes in the appropriateness of US outpatient antibiotic prescribing across all conditions and age groups after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in March 2020. Methods. This was an interrupted time series analysis of Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart Database, a national commercial and Medicare Advantage claims database. Analyses included prescriptions for antibiotics dispensed to children and adults enrolled during each month during 2017–2021. For each prescription, we applied our previously developed antibiotic appropriateness classification scheme to International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes on medical claims occurring on or during the 3 days prior to dispensing. Outcomes included the monthly proportion of antibiotic prescriptions that were inappropriate and the monthly proportion of enrollees with ≥1 inappropriate prescription. Using segmented regression models, we assessed for level and slope changes in outcomes in March 2020. Results. Analyses included 37 566 581 enrollees, of whom 19 154 059 (51.0%) were female. The proportion of enrollees with ≥1 inappropriate prescription decreased in March 2020 (level decrease: −0.80 percentage points [95% confidence interval {CI}, −1.09% to −.51%]) and subsequently increased (slope increase: 0.02 percentage points per month [95% CI, .01%–.03%]), partly because overall antibiotic dispensing rebounded and partly because the proportion of antibiotic prescriptions that were inappropriate increased (slope increase: 0.11 percentage points per month [95% CI, .04%–.18%]). In December 2021, the proportion of enrollees with ≥1 inappropriate prescription equaled the corresponding proportion in December 2019. Conclusions. Despite an initial decline, the proportion of enrollees exposed to inappropriate antibiotics returned to baseline levels by December 2021. Findings underscore the continued importance of outpatient antibiotic stewardship initiatives.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 312-320 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Clinical Infectious Diseases |
Volume | 79 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 15 2024 |
Funding
Financial support. K.-P. C. is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grant numbers R01DA056438-01, R01DA057284-01, and K08DA048110-05). J. A. L. is supported by the National Institute on Aging (grant numbers P30AG059988, R01AG069762, R01AG074245, P30AG024968, R01AG070054, R33AG057395, and R24AG064025) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (grant numbers R01HS026506 and R01HS028127).
Keywords
- antibiotic stewardship
- antibiotics
- COVID-19
- prescription drugs
- quality
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology (medical)
- Infectious Diseases