The Effect of Antibiotics and Drugs on the Duration of COVID-19 in Hospitalized Patients

This is a single center, retrospective, observational study carried out in Ohud hospital, the main referral hospital for SARS-CoV-2 infections in the region of Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study was carried on hospitalized patients with moderate to severe symptoms, including critically ill patients in the intensive care unit mostly of them requiring oxygen or mechanical ventilator support. Medical records from 432 cases were investigated showing that the majority of infected population were adults with an average age of 48 years, where 68.3% were males and the mortality rate was 5.6%. Duration of the disease was determined as the period between the first positive and the first negative PCR results. Patients who received antibiotics or Metoclopramide showed shorter duration of the disease time course while those who received Hydroxychloroquine, Omeprazole or Calcium exhibited longer durations before obtaining a negative PCR result. Regression analysis furtherly confirmed that antibiotics administration was associated with shorter course of disease while hydroxychloroquine or omeprazole were correlated with longer duration of the disease. Antiviral drugs, however, showed no correlations to the COVID-19 duration of stay in hospital. Finally, combining antibiotics and antiviral agents did not result in a better outcome, suggesting that the use of antibacterial agents helps in the recovery of SARS-CoV-2 patients.