Update on outpatient antibiotic prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic: United States, 2020-2022

Destani Bizune; Katryna Gouin; Lauren Powell; Adam L Hersh; Lauri A Hicks; Sarah Kabbani

doi:10.1017/ash.2024.398

Update on outpatient antibiotic prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic: United States, 2020-2022

Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2024 Oct 31;4(1):e193. doi: 10.1017/ash.2024.398. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Destani Bizune¹, Katryna Gouin¹, Lauren Powell¹, Adam L Hersh², Lauri A Hicks¹, Sarah Kabbani¹

Affiliations

¹ Medical Product Safety Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
² Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Abstract

We updated a descriptive analysis of national outpatient antibiotic prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prescribing volume was lower during 2020 and January-June in 2021 and 2022 compared to corresponding baseline months in 2019. Prescribing approached or exceeded baseline during July-December of 2021 and 2022 for all antibiotics, especially for azithromycin.