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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 &lt, 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.

Objectives The aim of the present work was to determine the influence of co-medication on the incidence of clinically relevant interactions, as well as their effect on the clinical condition, of patients with HIV who are on antiretroviral treatment and have a regular follow-up at a pharmaceutical care facility specialising in viral diseases. Methods An open-label, single centre prospective study was conducted at a hospital from January to December 2010. Inclusion criteria were age > 18 years, regular monitoring and active antiretroviral therapy. Disease monitoring was carried out by plasma viral load and CD4 T cell count measurements. Results Drug prescriptions were analysed for 468 patients. The mean patient age was 45 years. Overall, 20% of the patients had a viral load 250 cells/µl. Clinically significant drug interactions were lower in adherent patients than in non-adherent patients. In the multivariate analysis, risk factors associated with clinically significant drug interactions were co-medication, treatment with a protease inhibitor and backbone ‘others’ group. Conclusions Co-medication increases the number of clinically relevant drug interactions in patients with HIV under active antiretroviral treatment, resulting in lower levels of CD4 T cell counts and clinical worsening.

BACKGROUND: There are currently five approved nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs) for the management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB): lamivudine, adefovir dipivoxil, telbivudine, entecavir, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. OBJECTIVE: To determine the persistence rates among patients receiving NUCs for CHB at weeks 48, 96 and 144, compare them in these periods, and analyse the evolution of treatment persistence. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study that included patients with CHB who initiated antiviral therapy and were attended to by the pharmaceutical care office between January 2002 and December 2011. Patients included in a clinical trial or patients who did not collect their medication personally were excluded. There were two different analyses: a comparative analysis of the persistence rates in three periods (weeks 1–48, weeks 48–96, and weeks 96–144); and a Kaplan-Meier analysis to evaluate the evolution of persistence. RESULTS: A total of 102 patients were included. Persistence rates were different in the three periods. They decreased during the course of the different periods, and the decline was more rapid between the first and second period. There were statistically significant differences in the non-persistence of the five drugs (p