Drug Utilization Pattern in the Treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV 2) Patients at Dedicated COVID Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital: An Observational Study

Background and aims: Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a pandemic and increasing numbers of patients are being admitted to dedicated COVID hospitals in a city. Since patients were being prescribed investigational, off label, and some approved drugs, it is important to understand and document prescription and drug utilization patterns. Material and methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on 1164 RT-PCR positive COVID-19 patients admitted to a dedicated COVID-19 tertiary care hospital. Treatment given to patients with COVID-19 was recorded and evaluated with respect to the place of admission, that is, wards or Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Descriptive statistics were used for the evaluation of data. Results: Among the 1164 patients, 670 (57.5%) patients were admitted to the wards while 494 (42.4%) patients were admitted to the ICU. The mortality rate of study participants was 4.1%. Ceftriaxone (39.27%) was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in the ICU patients while azithromycin (79.10%) was the most prescribed antibiotic in wards patients. 242 (48.98%) patients received dexamethasone whereas methylprednisolone was administered to 88 (17.81%) patients. Remdesivir was administered to 48% of the patients in our study. Conclusion: We observed high rates of mortality in patients with one or more comorbidities having SpO2 less than 65. Concordance and adherence to the line of treatment as recommended by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare/ICMR guidelines were discerned. Rational use of antimicrobials is warranted to curb antibiotic resistance and opportunistic infections since most of the patients received empirical therapy.