COVID-19 observations from hospitalized patients in the Northern Emirates: A practice only preached

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has established itself as the defining global health crisis of this time. The study describes the clinical profile of hospitalized, non-intensive care unit (ICU) patients with COVID-19 in the UAE during its second wave, through January–March 2021. It also highlights the use of antibiotic stewardship principles in patients admitted with COVID-19. Methods: An observational, retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital based in the Northern Emirates of UAE. A consecutive sample of 110 acutely hospitalized patients with COVID-19 participated in the study. Pregnant women, patients who were admitted to the ICU, and those receiving antibiotics prior to admission were excluded. Data were collected from the written and electronic health records of included patients and subsequently analyzed using IBM SPSS (v25). Results: Population was 58.2% male with a mean age of 51.2 years; 69.1% had at least one comorbidity and 61.8% had severe COVID-19 disease. Mean white blood cell count was 6.03 ± 2.70 × 109 cells/L with a mean C-reactive protein of 83.3 ± 14.6 mg/L. About 4.2% of the tested (20.9%) blood cultures were positive. Empiric antibiotic use was limited to 9.1% of the population. Conclusion: The UAE population admitted in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was mostly male, older with higher prevalence of comorbidities. Given the limited knowledge of the disease, the calculated clinical measures were taken to bring antibiotic use to an extraordinarily low level, not previously seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.