Bacterial coinfection among coronavirus disease 2019 patient groups: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: New microbes and new infections 2021-09, Vol.43, p.100910-100910, Article 100910
• Main Authors: Soltani, S., Faramarzi, S., Zandi, M., Shahbahrami, R., Jafarpour, A., Akhavan Rezayat, S., Pakzad, I., Abdi, F., Malekifar, P., Pakzad, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coinfection; coronavirus; COVID-19; meta-analysis; Original; systematics review
• ISSN: 2052-2975; 2052-2975
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nmni.2021.100910

The pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 raised the attention towards bacterial coinfection and its role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease. This study aims to systematically review and identify the pooled prevalence of bacterial coinfection in the related articles. A comprehensive search was conducted in international databases, including MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase, to identify the articles on the prevalence of bacterial coinfections in COIVD-19 patients from 1 December 2019 until 30 December 2020. All observational epidemiological studies that evaluated the prevalence of bacterial coinfections in patients with COVID-19 were included without any restriction. Forty-two studies including a total sample size of 54,695 were included in the analysis. The pooled estimate for the prevalence of bacterial coinfections was 20.97% (95% CI: 15.95–26.46), and the pooled prevalence of bacterial coinfections was 5.20% (95% CI: 2.39–8.91) for respiratory subtype and 4.79% (95% CI: 0.11–14.61) for the gastrointestinal subtype. The pooled prevalence for Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office and South-East Asia Regional Office was 100% (95% CI: 82.35–100.00) and 2.61% (95% CI: 1.74–3.62). This rate of coinfection poses a great danger towards patients, especially those in critical condition. Although there are multiple complications and adverse effects related to extensive use of antibiotics to treat patients with COVID-19, it seems there is no other option except applying them, and it needs to be done carefully. •Bacterial coinfections are prevalent in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19).•Respiratory bacterial coinfections are the most coinfection in COVID 19.•Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office and South-East Asia Regional Office has the most and least pooled prevalence of bacterial coinfection in COVID 19.