Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on use of anti‐dementia medications in 34 European and North American countries

INTRODUCTION: The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the global use of anti‐dementia medication is unknown. We aimed to determine the changes of anti‐dementia medication use in Europe (EU) and North America (NA) during the pandemic. METHODS: This is a cross‐sectional study using sales data of anti‐dementia medications in 2019 and 2020 from 34 EU and NA countries. The monthly uses of anti‐dementia medications from January through June in 2020 were compared to the corresponding months in 2019 for each country. RESULTS: In the pre‐pandemic period of January to March 2020, 70 out of 102 (3 months x 34 countries) measurements (68.6%) of monthly sales volume showed an increase. In contrast, 76.5% and 85.3% countries showed reduced sales in April and May 2020, respectively. DISCUSSION: These findings indicate changes in use of anti‐dementia medications during the pandemic. The delivery of pharmaceutical care for dementia patients may be heavily disrupted in certain countries.