Researchers used the OpenSAFELY platform, which integrates primary and secondary care, COVID-19 tests and death registration data, to see if 3-year antibiotics exposure was correlated to severe COVID-19 infections. They found that as the use of antibiotics rose, so did the risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms among 670,000 people who contracted COVID-19 between Feb. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2021.
Historical use also showed to play a factor. Compared to those who had received one antibiotic in the last three years, patients who took at least four antibiotics in that period had a nearly doubled risk of hospitalization.
The researchers said the overuse of antibiotics might have spurred bacterial infections or adverse events in the gut microbiome among people who are not at high risk of severe COVID-19.
“It seems advisable to discourage the regular practice of indiscriminately prescribing antibiotics repeatedly and intermittently,” they concluded.
