Comparison of drug prescribing before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-national European study.

Iva Selke Krulichová Gisbert W Selke Marion Bennie Mohammadhossein Hajiebrahimi Fredrik NybergJurij FürstKristina Garuolienė Elisabetta PoluzziJuraj SlabýCorinne Zara Yahni Mattia Altini Maria Pia FantiniVáclav KočíStuart McTaggart Caridad Pontes Chiara RenoSimona RosaMarta Turu PedrolaMitja UdovičBjörn Wettermark

Published in: Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety (2022)

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.

Keyphrases

quality improvement
sars cov
primary care
coronavirus disease
adverse drug
drug induced
clinical evaluation