{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T14:43:51Z","timestamp":1790001831361,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,27]],"date-time":"2023-05-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1685145600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund","award":["ITM NKFIA TKP2021-EGA-32"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ITM NKFIA TKP2021-EGA-32"]}]},{"name":"The J\u00e1nos Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Science","award":["ITM NKFIA TKP2021-EGA-32"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ITM NKFIA TKP2021-EGA-32"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have potentially impacted the use of antibiotics. We aimed to analyze the use of systemic antibiotics (J01) in ambulatory care in Hungary during two pandemic years, to compare it with pre-COVID levels (January 2015\u2013December 2019), and to describe trends based on monthly utilization. Our main findings were that during the studied COVID-19 pandemic period, compared to the pre-COVID level, an impressive 23.22% decrease in the use of systemic antibiotics was detected in ambulatory care. A significant reduction was shown in the use of several antibacterial subgroups, such as beta-lactam antibacterials, penicillins (J01C, \u221226.3%), and quinolones (J01M, \u221236.5%). The trends of antibiotic use moved in parallel with the introduction or revoking of restriction measures with a nadir in May 2020, which corresponded to a 55.46% decrease in use compared to the previous (pre-COVID) year\u2019s monthly means. In general, the systemic antibiotic use (J01) was lower compared to the pre-COVID periods\u2019 monthly means in almost every studied pandemic month, except for three months from September to November in 2021. The seasonal variation of antibiotic use also diminished. Active agent level analysis revealed an excessive use of azithromycin, even after evidence of ineffectiveness for COVID-19 emerged.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics12060970","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,27]],"date-time":"2023-05-27T16:19:37Z","timestamp":1685204377000},"page":"970","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ambulatory Care Antibiotic Use in Hungary: A Population-Based Observational Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Helga","family":"Hambalek","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"},{"name":"Central Pharmacy Department, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Center, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7877-2399","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"M\u00e1ria","family":"Matuz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"},{"name":"Central Pharmacy Department, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Center, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rox\u00e1na","family":"Ruzsa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zs\u00f3fia","family":"Engi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u00c1d\u00e1m","family":"Visnyovszki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine Infectiology Unit, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Centre, University of Szeged, \u00c1llom\u00e1s Street 1\u20133, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Erika","family":"Papfalvi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"},{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine Infectiology Unit, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Centre, University of Szeged, \u00c1llom\u00e1s Street 1\u20133, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2309-3532","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edit","family":"Hajd\u00fa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine Infectiology Unit, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Centre, University of Szeged, \u00c1llom\u00e1s Street 1\u20133, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"P\u00e9ter","family":"Dor\u00f3","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"R\u00e9ka","family":"Viola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"},{"name":"Central Pharmacy Department, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Center, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gy\u00f6ngyv\u00e9r","family":"So\u00f3s","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dezs\u0151","family":"Csupor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"},{"name":"Institute for Translational Medicine, Medical School, University of P\u00e9cs, 7624 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8009-8962","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ria","family":"Benko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"},{"name":"Central Pharmacy Department, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Center, University of Szeged, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"},{"name":"Emergency Department, Albert Szent-Gy\u00f6rgyi Health Centre, University of Szeged, Semmelweis Street 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"2101020","article-title":"Decrease in Community Antibiotic Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic, EU\/EEA, 2020","volume":"26","author":"Pereira","year":"2021","journal-title":"Euro Surveill."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e652","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/ciaa1896","article-title":"Trends in U.S. Outpatient Antibiotic Prescriptions during the COVID-19 Pandemic","volume":"73","author":"King","year":"2020","journal-title":"Clin. 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Infect."}],"container-title":["Antibiotics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-6382\/12\/6\/970\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T19:43:16Z","timestamp":1760125396000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-6382\/12\/6\/970"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,27]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,6]]}},"alternative-id":["antibiotics12060970"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/antibiotics12060970","relation":{},"ISSN":["2079-6382"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2079-6382","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,27]]}}}