The aim of this study was to know the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 in patients treated with long-term macrolides and to describe the factors associated with worse outcomes. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Primary Care setting. Patients with macrolides dispensed continuously from 1 October 2019 to 31 March 2020, were considered. Main outcome: diagnosis of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Secondary outcomes: symptoms, severity, characteristics of patients, comorbidities, concomitant treatments. A total of 3057 patients met the inclusion criteria. Median age: 73 (64–81) years; 55% were men; 62% smokers/ex-smokers; 56% obese/overweight. Overall, 95% of patients had chronic respiratory diseases and four comorbidities as a median. Prevalence of COVID-19: 4.8%. This was in accordance with official data during the first wave of the pandemic. The most common symptoms were respiratory: shortness of breath, cough, and pneumonia. Additionally, 53% percent of patients had mild/moderate symptoms, 28% required hospital admission, and 19% died with COVID-19. The percentage of patients hospitalized and deaths were 2.6 and 5.8 times higher, respectively, in the COVID-19 group ( p < 0.001). There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of long-term courses of macrolides in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection or the progression to worse outcomes in old patients with underlying chronic respiratory diseases and a high burden of comorbidity.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Azithromycin, outpatients, Ambulatory care, long-term treatment, macrolides, 【초록키워드】 pandemic, Pneumonia, cross-sectional, SARS-COV-2 infection, severity, Comorbidities, Diagnosis, Comorbidity, Symptom, progression, outcome, cough, Symptoms, Prevalence, outcomes, Coronavirus disease-19, severity of COVID-19, Patient, death, Hospital admission, First wave, Evidence, Shortness of breath, Factor, inclusion criteria, COVID-19 group, concomitant treatments, chronic respiratory disease, secondary, Course, died, required, conducted, median, characteristics of patients, patients hospitalized, patients treated, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 Macrolide,