TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparison of drug prescribing before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - A cross-national European study
AU - Selke Krulichová, Iva
AU - Selke, Gisbert W.
AU - Bennie, Marion
AU - Hajiebrahimi, Mohammadhossein
AU - Nyberg, Fredrik
AU - Fürst, Jurij
AU - Garuolienė, Kristina
AU - Poluzzi, Elisabetta
AU - Slabý, Juraj
AU - Yahni, Corinne Zara
AU - Altini, Mattia
AU - Fantini, Maria Pia
AU - Kočí, Václav
AU - McTaggart, Stuart
AU - Pontes, Caridad
AU - Reno, Chiara
AU - Rosa, Simona
AU - Pedrola, Marta Turu
AU - Udovič, Mitja
AU - Wettermark, Björn
N1 - NordForsk; Univerzita Karlova v Praze; Stockholm County Council
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on health care, with disruption to routine clinical care. Our aim was to describe changes in prescription drugs dispensing in the primary and outpatient sectors during the first year of the pandemic across Europe. Methods: We used routine administrative data on dispensed medicines in eight European countries (five whole countries, three represented by one region each) from January 2017 to March 2021 to compare the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic with the preceding 3 years. Results: In the 10 therapeutic subgroups with the highest dispensed volumes across all countries/regions the relative changes between the COVID-19 period and the year before were mostly of a magnitude similar to changes between previous periods. However, for drugs for obstructive airway diseases the changes in the COVID-19 period were stronger in several countries/regions. In all countries/regions a decrease in dispensed DDDs of antibiotics for systemic use (from −39.4% in Romagna to −14.2% in Scotland) and nasal preparations (from −34.4% in Lithuania to −5.7% in Sweden) was observed. We observed a stockpiling effect in the total market in March 2020 in six countries/regions. In Czechia the observed increase was not significant and in Slovenia volumes increased only after the end of the first lockdown. We found an increase in average therapeutic quantity per pack dispensed, which, however, exceeded 5% only in Slovenia, Germany, and Czechia. Conclusions: The findings from this first European cross-national comparison show a substantial decrease in dispensed volumes of antibiotics for systemic use in all countries/regions. The results also indicate that the provision of medicines for common chronic conditions was mostly resilient to challenges faced during the pandemic. However, there were notable differences between the countries/regions for some therapeutic areas.
AB - Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on health care, with disruption to routine clinical care. Our aim was to describe changes in prescription drugs dispensing in the primary and outpatient sectors during the first year of the pandemic across Europe. Methods: We used routine administrative data on dispensed medicines in eight European countries (five whole countries, three represented by one region each) from January 2017 to March 2021 to compare the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic with the preceding 3 years. Results: In the 10 therapeutic subgroups with the highest dispensed volumes across all countries/regions the relative changes between the COVID-19 period and the year before were mostly of a magnitude similar to changes between previous periods. However, for drugs for obstructive airway diseases the changes in the COVID-19 period were stronger in several countries/regions. In all countries/regions a decrease in dispensed DDDs of antibiotics for systemic use (from −39.4% in Romagna to −14.2% in Scotland) and nasal preparations (from −34.4% in Lithuania to −5.7% in Sweden) was observed. We observed a stockpiling effect in the total market in March 2020 in six countries/regions. In Czechia the observed increase was not significant and in Slovenia volumes increased only after the end of the first lockdown. We found an increase in average therapeutic quantity per pack dispensed, which, however, exceeded 5% only in Slovenia, Germany, and Czechia. Conclusions: The findings from this first European cross-national comparison show a substantial decrease in dispensed volumes of antibiotics for systemic use in all countries/regions. The results also indicate that the provision of medicines for common chronic conditions was mostly resilient to challenges faced during the pandemic. However, there were notable differences between the countries/regions for some therapeutic areas.
KW - COVID-19
KW - cross-national comparison
KW - DDD volume
KW - drug utilization
KW - pandemic
KW - pharmacoepidemiology
KW - stockpiling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135055739&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/pds.5509
DO - 10.1002/pds.5509
M3 - Article
C2 - 35791700
AN - SCOPUS:85135055739
SN - 1053-8569
VL - 31
SP - 1046
EP - 1055
JO - Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
JF - Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
IS - 10
ER -