Skip to main content

Nursing Homes Used COVID Meds Less Than Expected During Pandemic

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.

By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 18, 2023 -- While nursing home residents are at high risk for bad outcomes if they get COVID-19, use of antiviral treatments, such as monoclonal antibodies, was low through most of 2021 and 2022.

The authors of a new study, led by Brian McGarry, a health services researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, called that fact alarming.

Using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Healthcare Safety Network for May 2021 to December 2002, McGarry and collaborators at Harvard University found that just 18% of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes were treated with antiviral medicine.

Even after easier-to-administer and widely available oral treatments were authorized, only 1 in 4 nursing home residents received these life-saving medications, the investigators found.

The study considered more than 763,000 COVID-19 cases in more than 15,000 U.S. nursing homes. Everyone in a nursing home meets current clinical guidelines to be considered for antiviral treatment.

By the end of last year, however, 40% of nursing homes reported that they had never used any of the antiviral treatments. And for-profit and lower-quality facilities, as well as those with higher shares of Medicaid and non-white residents, were less likely to use antivirals, the study authors noted.

This likely contributed to disparities in COVID hospitalizations and deaths, the researchers suggested in a university news release.

The report was published online July 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Sources

  • University of Rochester Medical Center, news release, July 14, 2023

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted July 2023

Further Support and Information on COVID-19

Read this next

CDC Reports Third Dairy Worker Infected With Bird Flu, Risk to Public Remains 'Low'

THURSDAY, May 30, 2024 -- Amid an ongoing outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows, there's been a third case of H5N1 avian flu confirmed in a dairy worker, U.S. health officials...

Bird Flu Spotted in Alpacas for First Time

WEDNESDAY, May 29, 2024 -- Bird flu has been detected for the first time in alpacas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Tuesday. The animals that tested positive...

Bird Flu Found in Beef Tissue; Officials Say It Did Not Enter Food Supply

TUESDAY, May 28 -- Bird flu virus has been detected in beef tissue from a sick dairy cow, but U.S. health officials stressed the country's meat supply remains safe. In an update...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.