COVID-19 Observations from Hospitalized Ward Patients in the Northern Emirates: A Practice Only Preached

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has established itself as the defining global health crisis of this time. The study describes the clinical profile of hospitalized, non-ICU patients with COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during its second wave, through January-March 2021. It also highlights the use of antibiotic stewardship principles in patients admitted with COVID-19. Methodology An observational, retrospective study was conducted with 110 participants from Sheikh Khalifa General Hospital – Umm Al Quwain in the UAE. Pregnant women, patients who were admitted to/transferred to/discharged from the intensive care unit, patients who were receiving antibiotics prior to admission were excluded from the study. Results Population was 58.2% male with a mean age of 51.2 (± 14.6) years; 69.1% had at least one comorbidity and 61.8% were classified as severe COVID-19 disease. Mean WBC count was 6.03 ± 2.70 × 10 9 cells/L with a mean CRP of 83.3 ± 14.6 mg/L. 4.2% of the tested (20.9%) blood cultures performed were positive. Immunomodulators (67.26%), prophylactic anticoagulants (90%), anti-viral drugs (83.61%) were primary modalities of therapy. Empiric antibiotic use was limited to 9.1% of population. Conclusion Our study highlighted that the population admitted to the hospital in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UAE were mostly male, older with higher prevalence of comorbidities. Given the limited knowledge of the new disease, we took bold but calculated clinical measures to maintain antibiotic stewardship practice and brought antibiotic prescribing to extraordinary low level not seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.