Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antidepressant consumption in the Central region of Portugal: interrupted time series.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the consumption of antidepressive agents in Central Portugal.

Methods

To estimate the causal effect of the pandemic an interrupted time series analysis was conducted. Data of antidepressant drugs monthly dispensed in community pharmacies between Jan-2010 and Dec-2021 were provided by the regional Health Administration. Anti-Parkinson dopaminergic agents and statins, theoretically not influenced by COVID-19 pandemics, were used as comparator series. The number of packages was converted into defined daily doses and presented as defined daily doses/1000 inhabitants/day. A Bayesian structural time-series model with CausalImpact on R/RStudio was used to predict the counterfactual. Analyses with different geographical granularity (

SUBMITTER: Negrao LG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11870879 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature