Statutory health insurance-covered pre-exposure prophylaxis in Germany: changing trends in nationwide tenofovir disoproxil/emtricitabine prescriptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Background: In 2019, Germany introduced a law to reimburse high-incidence populations for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), prescribed as tenofovir-disoproxil/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC), via statutory health insurance (SHI). We studied changes in TDF/FTC-prescriptions after the implementation of this law and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We performed an interrupted time series analysis with monthly prescriptions per defined time period as the outcome. We considered the introduction of SHI-covered PrEP (09/2019) as an interruption, and four COVID-19 waves and two national lockdowns (2020-2021) as explanatory variables. We extrapolated prescriptions had the lockdowns not occurred, and compared this to the actual prescriptions. We performed sub-analyses based on stratificat

SUBMITTER: Prins H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10654745 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature