Cargando…

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland

BACKGROUND: Following concerns about increased antibiotic use during the COVID-19 pandemic, trends in community antibiotic prescriptions in Scotland were evaluated. METHODS: The primary care prescription electronic messaging system used in GP practices with NHS contracts provided near real-time data...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Malcolm, William, Seaton, Ronald A, Haddock, Gail, Baxter, Linsey, Thirlwell, Sarah, Russell, Polly, Cooper, Lesley, Thomson, Anne, Sneddon, Jacqueline
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7798936/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34192254
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jacamr/dlaa105
_version_ 1783635087318843392
author Malcolm, William
Seaton, Ronald A
Haddock, Gail
Baxter, Linsey
Thirlwell, Sarah
Russell, Polly
Cooper, Lesley
Thomson, Anne
Sneddon, Jacqueline
author_facet Malcolm, William
Seaton, Ronald A
Haddock, Gail
Baxter, Linsey
Thirlwell, Sarah
Russell, Polly
Cooper, Lesley
Thomson, Anne
Sneddon, Jacqueline
author_sort Malcolm, William
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Following concerns about increased antibiotic use during the COVID-19 pandemic, trends in community antibiotic prescriptions in Scotland were evaluated. METHODS: The primary care prescription electronic messaging system used in GP practices with NHS contracts provided near real-time data analysis of national data. The main outcome measures were the weekly number of prescriptions for antibiotics generated by prescribers in GP practices in 2020 compared with 2019. RESULTS: At end of Week 12 2020 (22 March), after a sharp increase, the number of prescriptions commonly used for respiratory infections was 44% higher than the corresponding week in 2019. The number of prescriptions for respiratory antibiotics reduced through April and May 2020, with 34% fewer prescriptions issued by end of Week 22 (31 May) than in the corresponding week in 2019. Reductions were pronounced in all age groups but particularly apparent for prescriptions for children aged 0–4 years. These data were compared with weekly prescriptions for a selection of non-respiratory antibiotics and no difference was seen between 2020 and 2019. CONCLUSIONS: Trends in antibiotic prescription data show that after an initial surge, and following ‘lockdown’ in Scotland, the total number of prescriptions for antibiotics commonly used for respiratory infections fell. We believe this is the first published national evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 on community use of antibiotics. Further analysis of national data is planned to provide a greater understanding of the reasons behind these trends.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7798936
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Oxford University Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77989362021-01-25 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland Malcolm, William Seaton, Ronald A Haddock, Gail Baxter, Linsey Thirlwell, Sarah Russell, Polly Cooper, Lesley Thomson, Anne Sneddon, Jacqueline JAC Antimicrob Resist Original Article BACKGROUND: Following concerns about increased antibiotic use during the COVID-19 pandemic, trends in community antibiotic prescriptions in Scotland were evaluated. METHODS: The primary care prescription electronic messaging system used in GP practices with NHS contracts provided near real-time data analysis of national data. The main outcome measures were the weekly number of prescriptions for antibiotics generated by prescribers in GP practices in 2020 compared with 2019. RESULTS: At end of Week 12 2020 (22 March), after a sharp increase, the number of prescriptions commonly used for respiratory infections was 44% higher than the corresponding week in 2019. The number of prescriptions for respiratory antibiotics reduced through April and May 2020, with 34% fewer prescriptions issued by end of Week 22 (31 May) than in the corresponding week in 2019. Reductions were pronounced in all age groups but particularly apparent for prescriptions for children aged 0–4 years. These data were compared with weekly prescriptions for a selection of non-respiratory antibiotics and no difference was seen between 2020 and 2019. CONCLUSIONS: Trends in antibiotic prescription data show that after an initial surge, and following ‘lockdown’ in Scotland, the total number of prescriptions for antibiotics commonly used for respiratory infections fell. We believe this is the first published national evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 on community use of antibiotics. Further analysis of national data is planned to provide a greater understanding of the reasons behind these trends. Oxford University Press 2020-12-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7798936/ /pubmed/34192254 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jacamr/dlaa105 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Original Article
Malcolm, William
Seaton, Ronald A
Haddock, Gail
Baxter, Linsey
Thirlwell, Sarah
Russell, Polly
Cooper, Lesley
Thomson, Anne
Sneddon, Jacqueline
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland
title Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland
title_full Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland
title_fullStr Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland
title_full_unstemmed Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland
title_short Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in Scotland
title_sort impact of the covid-19 pandemic on community antibiotic prescribing in scotland
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7798936/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34192254
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jacamr/dlaa105
work_keys_str_mv AT malcolmwilliam impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT seatonronalda impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT haddockgail impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT baxterlinsey impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT thirlwellsarah impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT russellpolly impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT cooperlesley impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT thomsonanne impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland
AT sneddonjacqueline impactofthecovid19pandemiconcommunityantibioticprescribinginscotland