Epidemiology of bacterial respiratory tract infections during the pre-pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic era: A retrospective study of hospitalized adults in northern Greece between 2018 and 2023

Abstract

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has had impact on global healthcare and respiratory disease patterns. The aim was to evaluate the changes in positive respiratory cultures during the pandemic.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of respiratory specimens in Papanikolaou Hospital during 2018–2023 was performed. In total, 18,852 samples (12,277 males, 6575 females) of respiratory samples were recorded.

Results

During 2018–2019, 684 BAL samples were received, of which 12.3 % were positive. Positive pharyngeal smears constituted 24.8 %, compared to 18.5 % in pandemic years, and 29.6 % in 2023. In PTC, pre-pandemic, positives were 12.3 %, while in 2021 the maximum percentage of positives (21.9 %) was observed. Positive levels remained high in 2023 (18.3 %). Concerning bronchial secretions, there was an increase (55.3 % in 2022 vs 47.0 % in 2019). The predominant bacteria were Acinetobacter spp, Klebsiella spp and Pseudomonas spp.

Conclusion

Except for the bronchial secretions, the rest of the respiratory specimens do not exhibit any definite trends.