Preferences of Belgorod primary care phycisians in the treatment of a new coronavirus infection

Background. COVID-19 is a disease with rapidly increasing morbidity and mortality, resulting in a significant increase in the workload placed on healthcare. In order to achieve high quality care for patients with this infection, it is necessary to apply modern approaches to the treatment of COVID-19. Objective. Assessment of the preferences of Belgorod doctors in choosing treatment regimens for a new coronavirus infection and their compliance with official recommendations. Methods. In this study, 156 clinical cases of treatment of patients with suspected or confirmed novel coronavirus infection were analyzed. All clinical cases were divided into two groups: patients who received therapy before confirmation of COVID-19, or with a negative PCR test (group «COVID-19 (-)»), and patients who received therapy after confirmation of COVID-19 (group « COVID-19 (+)"). The following groups of drugs were analyzed: «Antiviral drugs», «Immunomodulatory drugs», «Antibacterial drugs», «Anticoagulants and antiaggregants», «Mucolitics and antitussive drugs», «Vitamins», «Glucocorticosteroids», «Other drugs». Results. In the COVID-19 (-) grouP., antivirals (89%) and the “Other drugs" (69.5%) were most frequently prescribed. Immunomodulatory drugs (58.5%), vitamins (50%), mucolytics and antitussive drugs (41.5%), as well as antibacterial agents (34.1%) were prescribed less frequently. The proportion of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents accounted for only 7.3% of prescriptions. In the COVID-19 (+) grouP., immunomodulating agents (88.4%) and vitamins (78.3%) were prescribed much more frequently. Antivirals were prescribed as often as in the COVID-19 (-) group (89.9%), the role of the “Other drugs" grup decreased to 47.8%, and the group of mucolytics and antitussives - to 23.2%. Antibacterial agents were prescribed in 31.9% of cases, glucocorticosteroids - in 14.5%, and anticoagulants and antiaggregants - in 13%. Conclusion. According to the analysis of study results, we concluded that at the time of the survey, primary care physicians did not have a sufficiently clear idea of the current rational approaches to the treatment of a new coronavirus infection.

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, new coronavirus infection, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2