Systemic antibiotics and asthma medicines dispensed to 0-12 year olds significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Nationwide lockdowns and social restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced childhood infections. We assessed how many items of systemic antibiotics and asthma medicines were dispensed to children aged 0-12 years in Finland before and during the pandemic and analysed the reimbursement costs.

Methods

The data came from the national Finnish register of reimbursable prescriptions, which is maintained by the country's Social Insurance Institution. It included all prescriptions for antibiotics and asthma medicines dispensed to children aged 0-12 years in 2019 and 2020. Prescription rates per 1000 children were calculated for each quarter and compared using rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Results

Overall dispensing for antibiotics decreased

SUBMITTER: Haapanen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8652669 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature