Prospective study of policies and use of therapies for COVID-19 among Australian health services during 2020.
Intern Med J
; 52(2): 214-222, 2022 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1700926
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated significant debate about how emerging infections can be treated in the absence of evidence-based therapies to combat disease. In particular, the use of off-label therapies outside of a clinical trial setting has been controversial.AIM:
To longitudinally study policies and prescribing practices pertaining to therapies for COVID-19 in Australian health services during 2020.METHODS:
Prospective data were collected from participating Australian health services who may care for patients with COVID-19 via an electronic portal. A single informant from each health service was emailed a survey link at regular intervals. Information was sought regarding changes to COVID-19 policy at their service and use of therapies for COVID-19.RESULTS:
Overall, 78 hospitals were represented from 39 respondents with longitudinal data collection from May to December 2020. All Australian states/territories were represented with the majority (34/39; 87%) of respondents located in a major city. Just over half (20/39) of respondents had a written policy for COVID-19 therapy use at their health service at survey enrolment and policies changed frequently throughout the pandemic. Therapy use outside of a clinical trial was reported in 54% of health services, most frequently in Victoria, correlating with higher numbers of COVID-19 cases. At study commencement, hydroxychloroquine was most frequently used, with corticosteroids and remdesivir use increasingly throughout the study period.CONCLUSION:
Our results reflect the reactive nature of prescribing of therapies for COVID-19 and highlight the importance of evidence-based guidelines to assist prescribers.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
English
Journal:
Intern Med J
Journal subject:
Internal Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Imj.15510
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