Time series analysis of the incidence of acute upper respiratory tract infections, COVID-19 and the use of antibiotics in Finland during the COVID-19 epidemic: a cohort study of 833 444 patients.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To evaluate the trajectories of acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), COVID-19, and the use of antibiotics in Finland during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Design

Population-based cohort study.

Setting

Electronic medical records from a nationwide healthcare chain in Finland.

Participants

833 444 patients from a cohort of 1 970 013 Finns who had used medical services between 2017 and 2020.

Main outcome measures

Number of weekly patients of acute URTIs, COVID-19, and the prescribed number of antibiotics in Finland between 6 January 2020 and 21 June 2020. We estimated the respective expected numbers from 1 March 2020 onward using autoregressive integrated moving average model from 1 January 2017 to 1 March 2020. We assessed the public interest

SUBMITTER: Niemenoja O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8804308 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature