The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dispensing of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) in Ireland: A population based study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic had considerable implications for cancer related care. This study aimed to examine its impact on the dispensing of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) in Ireland.

Study design

A repeated cross-sectional design was used which involved a quasi-experimental interrupted time series analysis (ITSA), and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models.

Methods

This nationally representative study utilised monthly pharmacy claims (i.e. dispensing) data from community and hospital schemes. Dispensed items among individuals prescribed any SACT from January 2019 to April 2021 were included.

Results

During the study period, 641,273 SACT items were dispensed, including 57,199 chemotherapeutic agents (8.9 %), 15,970 immunotherapeutic

SUBMITTER: Barrett PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11615519 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature