Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Epublish 4 citations
PubMed: 38176877 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-070031
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescription drug use and costs in British Columbia: a retrospective interrupted time series study.
BMJ Open 14(1):e070031
Authors: Seraphine Zeitouny, Kimberlyn McGrail, Mina Tadrous, Sabrina T Wong, Lucy Cheng, Michael Law
Affiliations
- Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescription drug use and costs.
DESIGN
Interrupted time series analysis of comprehensive administrative health data linkages in British Columbia, Canada, from 1 January 2018 to 28 March 2021.
SETTING
Retrospective population-based analysis of all prescription drugs dispensed in community pharmacies and outpatient hospital pharmacies and irrespective of the drug insurance payer.
PARTICIPANTS
Between 4.30 and 4.37 million individuals (52% women) actively registered with the publicly funded medical services plan.
INTERVENTION
COVID-19 pandemic and associated mitigation measures.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Weekly dispensing rates and costs, both overall and stratified by therapeutic groups and pharmacological subgroups, before and after the declaration of the public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relative changes in post-COVID-19 outcomes were expressed as ratios of observed to expected rates.
RESULTS
After the onset of the pandemic and subsequent COVID-19 mitigation measures, overall medication dispensing rates dropped by 2.4% (p<0.01), followed by a sustained weekly increase to return to predicted levels by the end of January 2021. We observed abrupt level decreases in antibacterials (30.3%, p<0.01) and antivirals (22.4%, p<0.01) that remained below counterfactuals over the first year of the pandemic. In contrast, there was a week-to-week trend increase in nervous system drugs, yielding an overall increase of 7.3% (p<0.01). No trend changes in the dispensing of respiratory system agents, ACE inhibitors, antidiabetic drugs and antidepressants were detected.
CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 pandemic impact on prescription drug dispensing was heterogeneous across medication subgroups. As data become available, dispensing trends in nervous system agents, antibiotics and antivirals warrant further monitoring and investigation.
MeSH
Drug Prescriptions, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Pharmacies, Prescriptions, Covid-19, Pandemics, Interrupted Time Series Analysis, Nervous System, Prescription Drugs, Antiviral Agents