Cargando…

Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the online purchase of goods and services in which today’s e-pharmacy is now an integral part of healthcare provisions in developed countries. The aim of our research was to assess the frequency and attitudes of European consumers purchasing medications online prior...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fittler, András, Ambrus, Tünde, Serefko, Anna, Smejkalová, Lenka, Kijewska, Anna, Szopa, Aleksandra, Káplár, Mátyás
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9833114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36642991
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1070473
_version_ 1784868187295186944
author Fittler, András
Ambrus, Tünde
Serefko, Anna
Smejkalová, Lenka
Kijewska, Anna
Szopa, Aleksandra
Káplár, Mátyás
author_facet Fittler, András
Ambrus, Tünde
Serefko, Anna
Smejkalová, Lenka
Kijewska, Anna
Szopa, Aleksandra
Káplár, Mátyás
author_sort Fittler, András
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the online purchase of goods and services in which today’s e-pharmacy is now an integral part of healthcare provisions in developed countries. The aim of our research was to assess the frequency and attitudes of European consumers purchasing medications online prior to and following the pandemic in the Visegrad Group countries (V4). An online cross-sectional study was conducted between May-August 2022. A 25-item questionnaire with single choice and 5-point Likert scale answers was used and implemented in Google forms and Pollfish. A sampling of 2087 responses was collected. A majority (92.8%) of the respondents were aware medicines can be purchased online, yet prefer traditional pharmacies (4.6 ± 0.8) and somewhat oppose the internet channel (2.8 ± 1.3). Following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, respondents’ attitude towards purchasing consumer goods (3.65 ± 0.89) and medications (3.26 ± 0.91) online increased, however, the change regarding medications is significantly smaller (p < 0.01). A distinct increase in the frequency of buying medicines (from 49.16% to 55.48%) and health products (from 60.61% to 63.0%) online was measured since the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0.05). Despite the relatively high prevalence witnessed in previous purchases, our results highlight the trend in which 18.3% of participants will definitely purchase medications online while a proportionate 17.7% will not in the future. Although long-term post-COVID attitudes towards the internet pharmacy channel have modestly increased, in comparison to previously published research the frequency of purchasing medications online has significantly increased during the past years. As national legislation in V4 countries permit only non-prescription online sales, our findings are primarily applicable to countries with similar regulatory environment. The rapid global spread of the coronavirus has transitionally affected medicinal purchase behaviors, augmenting potential public health concerns related to online sourcing. Consequently, public awareness campaigns are needed to promote verified online pharmacies and prevent the utilization of illicit websites and the use of unregistered, substandard and falsified medicinal products.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9833114
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-98331142023-01-12 Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal Fittler, András Ambrus, Tünde Serefko, Anna Smejkalová, Lenka Kijewska, Anna Szopa, Aleksandra Káplár, Mátyás Front Pharmacol Pharmacology The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the online purchase of goods and services in which today’s e-pharmacy is now an integral part of healthcare provisions in developed countries. The aim of our research was to assess the frequency and attitudes of European consumers purchasing medications online prior to and following the pandemic in the Visegrad Group countries (V4). An online cross-sectional study was conducted between May-August 2022. A 25-item questionnaire with single choice and 5-point Likert scale answers was used and implemented in Google forms and Pollfish. A sampling of 2087 responses was collected. A majority (92.8%) of the respondents were aware medicines can be purchased online, yet prefer traditional pharmacies (4.6 ± 0.8) and somewhat oppose the internet channel (2.8 ± 1.3). Following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, respondents’ attitude towards purchasing consumer goods (3.65 ± 0.89) and medications (3.26 ± 0.91) online increased, however, the change regarding medications is significantly smaller (p < 0.01). A distinct increase in the frequency of buying medicines (from 49.16% to 55.48%) and health products (from 60.61% to 63.0%) online was measured since the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0.05). Despite the relatively high prevalence witnessed in previous purchases, our results highlight the trend in which 18.3% of participants will definitely purchase medications online while a proportionate 17.7% will not in the future. Although long-term post-COVID attitudes towards the internet pharmacy channel have modestly increased, in comparison to previously published research the frequency of purchasing medications online has significantly increased during the past years. As national legislation in V4 countries permit only non-prescription online sales, our findings are primarily applicable to countries with similar regulatory environment. The rapid global spread of the coronavirus has transitionally affected medicinal purchase behaviors, augmenting potential public health concerns related to online sourcing. Consequently, public awareness campaigns are needed to promote verified online pharmacies and prevent the utilization of illicit websites and the use of unregistered, substandard and falsified medicinal products. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-12-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9833114/ /pubmed/36642991 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1070473 Text en Copyright © 2022 Fittler, Ambrus, Serefko, Smejkalová, Kijewska, Szopa and Káplár. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Pharmacology
Fittler, András
Ambrus, Tünde
Serefko, Anna
Smejkalová, Lenka
Kijewska, Anna
Szopa, Aleksandra
Káplár, Mátyás
Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal
title Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal
title_full Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal
title_fullStr Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal
title_full_unstemmed Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal
title_short Attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: At the tipping point towards the new normal
title_sort attitudes and behaviors regarding online pharmacies in the aftermath of covid-19 pandemic: at the tipping point towards the new normal
topic Pharmacology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9833114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36642991
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1070473
work_keys_str_mv AT fittlerandras attitudesandbehaviorsregardingonlinepharmaciesintheaftermathofcovid19pandemicatthetippingpointtowardsthenewnormal
AT ambrustunde attitudesandbehaviorsregardingonlinepharmaciesintheaftermathofcovid19pandemicatthetippingpointtowardsthenewnormal
AT serefkoanna attitudesandbehaviorsregardingonlinepharmaciesintheaftermathofcovid19pandemicatthetippingpointtowardsthenewnormal
AT smejkalovalenka attitudesandbehaviorsregardingonlinepharmaciesintheaftermathofcovid19pandemicatthetippingpointtowardsthenewnormal
AT kijewskaanna attitudesandbehaviorsregardingonlinepharmaciesintheaftermathofcovid19pandemicatthetippingpointtowardsthenewnormal
AT szopaaleksandra attitudesandbehaviorsregardingonlinepharmaciesintheaftermathofcovid19pandemicatthetippingpointtowardsthenewnormal
AT kaplarmatyas attitudesandbehaviorsregardingonlinepharmaciesintheaftermathofcovid19pandemicatthetippingpointtowardsthenewnormal