{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T02:06:15Z","timestamp":1760148375483,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,25]],"date-time":"2023-04-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1682380800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n Biom\u00e9dica en Red de Enfermedades Infecciosas","award":["CB21\/13\/00009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CB21\/13\/00009"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Aim: To analyze trends in the prescription of COVID-19 treatments for hospitalized patients during the pandemic. Methods: Multicenter, ecological, time-series study of aggregate data for all adult patients with COVID-19 treated in five acute-care hospitals in Barcelona, Spain, between March 2020 and May 2021. Trends in the monthly prevalence of drugs used against COVID-19 were analyzed by the Mantel\u2013Haenszel test. Results: The participating hospitals admitted 22,277 patients with COVID-19 during the study period, reporting an overall mortality of 10.8%. In the first months of the pandemic, lopinavir\/ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine were the most frequently used antivirals, but these fell into disuse and were replaced by remdesivir in July 2020. By contrast, the trend in tocilizumab use varied, first peaking in April and May 2020, declining until January 2021, and showing a discrete upward trend thereafter. Regarding corticosteroid use, we observed a notable upward trend in the use of dexamethasone 6 mg per day from July 2020. Finally, there was a high prevalence of antibiotics use, especially azithromycin, in the first three months, but this decreased thereafter. Conclusions: Treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 evolved with the changing scientific evidence during the pandemic. Initially, multiple drugs were empirically used that subsequently could not demonstrate clinical benefit. In future pandemics, stakeholders should strive to promote the early implementation of adaptive randomized clinical trials.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics12050809","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,25]],"date-time":"2023-04-25T02:06:35Z","timestamp":1682388395000},"page":"809","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Changing Trends in the Global Consumption of Treatments Used in Hospitalized Patients for COVID-19: A Time Series Multicentre Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7589-1333","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Judit","family":"Aranda","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6451-8971","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jose","family":"Loureiro-Amigo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Murgadella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"N\u00faria","family":"V\u00e0zquez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luc\u00eda","family":"Feria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-0271-1767","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miriam","family":"Mu\u00f1oz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, 08907 L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ariadna","family":"Padulles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, 08907 L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain"},{"name":"Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), 08907 L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain"},{"name":"Center for Biomedical Research in Infectious Diseases Network (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gabriela","family":"Abelenda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, 08907 L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carol","family":"Garcia-Vidal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Biomedical Research in Infectious Diseases Network (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Cl\u00ednic de Barcelona, 08036 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9153-6956","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Montse","family":"Tuset","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Hospital Cl\u00ednic de Barcelona, 08036 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3223-670X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marta","family":"Albanell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Hospital Cl\u00ednic de Barcelona, 08036 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luc\u00eda","family":"Boix-Palop","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital M\u00fatua de Terrassa, 08221 Terrassa, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"N\u00faria","family":"Sanmart\u00ed-Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Hospital M\u00fatua de Terrassa, 08221 Terrassa, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5987-068X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"S\u00edlvia","family":"G\u00f3mez-Zorrilla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital del Mar, Infectious Pathology and Antimicrobials Research Group (IPAR), Institut Hospital del Mar d\u2019Investigacions M\u00e8diques (IMIM) (Center Associated with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4975-8798","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"Echeverria-Esnal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Hospital del Mar, Parc De Salut Mar, Infectious Pathology and Antimicrobials Research Group (IPAR), Institut Hospital del Mar d\u2019Investigacions M\u00e8diques (IMIM) (Center Associated with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alicia","family":"Rodriguez-Alarc\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Hospital del Mar, Parc De Salut Mar, Infectious Pathology and Antimicrobials Research Group (IPAR), Institut Hospital del Mar d\u2019Investigacions M\u00e8diques (IMIM) (Center Associated with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Beatriz","family":"Borjabad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ana","family":"Coloma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jordi","family":"Carratal\u00e0","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), 08907 L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain"},{"name":"Center for Biomedical Research in Infectious Diseases Network (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, 08907 L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain"},{"name":"Clinical Science Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, 08036 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Isabel","family":"Oriol","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Department, Complex Hospitalari Mois\u00e8s Broggi, 08970 Sant Joan Desp\u00ed, Spain"},{"name":"Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), 08907 L\u2019Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain"},{"name":"Clinical Science Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, 08036 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2022, December 05). 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