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Changes in prescribing of psychotropic vs some physical health medication in primary care through the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a national-level survey

Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 2023-12, Vol.16 (1), p.169-169, Article 169 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

2023. The Author(s). ;COPYRIGHT 2023 BioMed Central Ltd. ;The Author(s) 2023 ;ISSN: 2052-3211 ;EISSN: 2052-3211 ;DOI: 10.1186/s40545-023-00655-9 ;PMID: 38124123

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  • Title:
    Changes in prescribing of psychotropic vs some physical health medication in primary care through the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a national-level survey
  • Author: Waheed, Unaiza ; Stedman, Mike ; Davies, Mark ; Solomon, Emma ; Taylor, David ; Heald, Adrian ; Narayanan, Ram Prakash ; Warner-Levy, John
  • Subjects: Antidepressants ; Antipsychotic drugs ; Drugs ; Prescription writing ; Serotonin uptake inhibitors ; Surveys
  • Is Part Of: Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 2023-12, Vol.16 (1), p.169-169, Article 169
  • Description: 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.
  • Publisher: England: BioMed Central Ltd
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 2052-3211
    EISSN: 2052-3211
    DOI: 10.1186/s40545-023-00655-9
    PMID: 38124123
  • Source: GFMER Free Medical Journals
    PubMed Central
    ROAD: Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources
    ProQuest Central
    DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
    Springer Nature OA Free Journals
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