Changes in prescribing of psychotropic vs some physical health medication in primary care through the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a national-level survey.
COVID-19
Pandemic
Prescribing
Psychotropic
Trend
Journal
Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice
ISSN: 2052-3211
Titre abrégé: J Pharm Policy Pract
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101627192
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
21 Dec 2023
21 Dec 2023
Historique:
received:
28
05
2023
accepted:
07
11
2023
medline:
21
12
2023
pubmed:
21
12
2023
entrez:
21
12
2023
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
The COVID-19 pandemic globally impacted healthcare provision. Prescribing changes in common medications can be used as a marker for new diagnoses. We describe how the prescribing of specific psychotropics was impacted by the pandemic. Primary Care Prescribing data for different classes of drugs from March 2017 to February 2022 were considered. To capture the impact during periods of restricted access to health services for new diagnoses/existing conditions, repeat prescriptions/episodic prescribing were included with account taken of historical trends. The pre-pandemic prescriptions issued each month from March 2018 to February 2020 were linearly extrapolated forward to give an expected annual growth (EAG). The monthly average expected prescriptions for the pandemic period (March 2020-February 2022) were compared. Physical health medications had lower monthly prescriptions during the pandemic, most markedly for antibiotics - 12.5% (EAG - 1.3%). Bronchodilator prescribing showed a marked increase in the early pandemic months from March 2020 of 5% (EAG 0.1%). Mental health medication prescribing increased above trend for hypnotics/anxiolytics by 0.2% (EAG - 2.3%), while antidepressants fell by - 0.2% (EAG 5.0%), with no net change for antipsychotics (EAG 2.8%), but a temporary increase in antipsychotic prescribing in the early pandemic period. For all the main antidepressants prescribed in England (Sertraline, Mirtazapine, Venlafaxine, Fluoxetine and Citalopram), prescribing actually decreased in the main pandemic period vs historical trend. The increase in anxiolytic/hypnotic prescribing above trend links to pandemic effects on anxiety/worry. If anything, there was a slight fall in prescribing of the main antidepressants prescribed, which given prevailing circumstances at the time, suggests that access to services may have restricted access to timely assessment.
Identifiants
pubmed: 38124123
doi: 10.1186/s40545-023-00655-9
pii: 10.1186/s40545-023-00655-9
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
169Informations de copyright
© 2023. The Author(s).
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