COVID-19 Patient Management in Outpatient Setting: A Population-Based Study from Southern Italy

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine 2021-12, Vol.11 (1), p.51
• Main Authors: Crisafulli, Salvatore, Ientile, Valentina, L'Abbate, Luca, Fontana, Andrea, Linguiti, Claudio, Manna, Sonia, Mercaldo, Mariangela, Pagliaro, Claudia, Vezzaro, Michele, Santacà, Katia, Lora, Riccardo, Moretti, Ugo, Reno, Chiara, Fantini, Maria Pia, Corrao, Salvatore, Barbato, Donato, Tari, Michele, Trifirò, Gianluca, The Ita-Covid Cov-Out Group
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Clinical medicine; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease; Drug use; Health surveillance; Hospitalization; Infections; Patients; Pharmacy; Population; Population-based studies; Purchasing; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm11010051

Evidence on treatments for early-stage COVID-19 in outpatient setting is sparse. We explored the pattern of use of drugs prescribed for COVID-19 outpatients' management in Southern Italy in the period February 2020-January 2021. This population-based cohort study was conducted using COVID-19 surveillance registry from Caserta Local Health Unit, which was linked to claims databases from the same catchment area. The date of SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosis was the index date (ID). We evaluated demographic and clinical characteristics of the study drug users and the pattern of use of drugs prescribed for outpatient COVID-19 management. Overall, 40,030 patients were included in the analyses, with a median (IQR) age of 44 (27-58) years. More than half of the included patients were asymptomatic at the ID. Overall, during the study period, 720 (1.8%) patients died due to COVID-19. Azithromycin and glucocorticoids were the most frequently prescribed drugs, while oxygen was the less frequently prescribed therapy. The cumulative rate of recovery from COVID-19 was 84.2% at 30 days from ID and it was lower among older patients. In this study we documented that the drug prescribing patterns for COVID-19 treatment in an outpatient setting from Southern Italy was not supported from current evidence on beneficial therapies for early treatment of COVID-19, thus highlighting the need to implement strategies for improving appropriate drug prescribing in general practice.