Patterns of prescription dispensation and over-the-counter medication sales in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

On February 26th 2020, a high alert was issued in Sweden in response to the diagnosis of the first few coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country. Subsequently, a decreased supply of essential goods, including medical products, was anticipated. We aimed to explore the weekly patterns of prescription dispensing and over-the-counter (OTC) medication sales in Sweden in 2020 compared with previous years, to assess the influence of the government restrictions on medication sales, and to assess whether there is evidence of medication stockpiling in the population.

Methods

Aggregated data on the weekly volume of defined daily doses (DDDs) of prescription medication dispensed and OTC sales from 2015 to 2020 were examined. From 2015-2019 data, the predicted

SUBMITTER: Karlsson P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8362980 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature