ArticleResearch in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP2021
Time-trend analysis of medicine sales and shortages during COVID-19 outbreak: Data from community pharmacies.
Article in Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- The impact of patient age on the pharmacist's recommendation of OTC anti-common cold products before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Trends and factors influencing over-the-counter cold and cough medication sales in Guangzhou, China: 2011-2017.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Paracetamol Use and COVID-19 Clinical Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Assessment of factors associated with self-medication practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in southwestern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional survey.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Article
- Perspectives of primary care physicians on academic detailing for antimicrobial stewardship: feasibility and impact assessment.The Journal of international medical research · 2024Article
- Article
- Exploring Drug Shortages in the United Kingdom.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Shortages of Medicines to Treat COVID-19 Symptoms during the First Wave and Fourth Wave: Analysis of Notifications Reported to Registers in Austria, Italy, and Spain.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Predicted Environmental Risk Assessment of Antimicrobials with Increased Consumption in Portugal during the COVID-19 Pandemic; The Groundwork for the Forthcoming Water Quality Survey.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Health-related quality of life and depressive symptoms of patients with chronic diseases and the general population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Antibiotic geographies and access to medicines: Tracing the role of India's pharmaceutical industry in global trade.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Review
- Factors Associated with Self-Medication during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Pakistan.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- Article
- A better normal in Canada will need a better detection system for emerging and re-emerging respiratory pathogens.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2022Article
- Emergency Preparedness for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Determinants Predicting the Community Pharmacists' Preparedness and Perceived Response in Malaysia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Issues affecting supply of palliative medicines into community pharmacy: A qualitative study of community pharmacist and pharmaceutical wholesaler/distributor perspectives.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2022Article
- COVID-19 Medical and Pharmacological Management in the European Countries Compared to Italy: An Overview.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Pharmaceutical compounds used in the COVID-19 pandemic: A review of their presence in water and treatment techniques for their elimination.The Science of the total environment · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCOVID-19 is a worldwide public health concern. Disruptions in the drug market are expected and shortages might worsen. Community pharmacies can contribute to early identification and report of medicines' supply and demand issues.
objectiveThe aim of this study is to characterize the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on outpatient medicines' sales and shortages.
methodsA retrospective, time-trend analysis of medicine sales, shortages and laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases was performed from February 1st to April 30th, 2020, and its homologous period (regarding sales only). A detailed analysis of 6 pharmaceutical substances was performed. All data were subjected to rescaling using the min-max normalization method, in order to become comparable. Data analysis was performed using Microsoft® Excel.
resultsThe pandemic resulted in an increase in medicines' demand and reported shortages during the early stage of the outbreak. The maximum proportion of medicine sales was registered on March 13th, 2020, 4 days after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. By the end of March, sales have already dropped to proportions similar to those of 2019. The maximum proportion of drug shortages was reached about one week after the sales peak and by the end of the study period were below those recorded in the pre-COVID-19 period. The analyzed drugs were paracetamol, ascorbic acid, dapagliflozin plus metformin, rosuvastatin plus ezetimibe, formoterol, and hydroxychloroquine, as these pharmaceutical substances registered the highest growth rate in sales and shortages when compared to the same period in the previous year. Hydroxychloroquine showed the most different pattern trends on sales and shortages of these medicines.
conclusionsPharmacies can provide timely and real-world data regarding sales and shortages. The adopted measures to guarantee the continuous supply of the medicine market seem to have worked. The long-term impacts of this pandemic are unknown and should continue to be closely monitored.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.