ArticleClinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases2022
The impact of COVID-19 on community antibiotic use in Canada: an ecological study.
Article in Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic consumption: A systematic review comparing 2019 and 2020 data.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Outpatient Antibiotic Dispensing Trends Across Canadian Provinces, 2012-2022: A Population-Based Descriptive Study.Cureus · 2026Article
- Unlocking antimicrobial stewardship optimization potential in Canadian hospitals: a mixed-methods needs assessment.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026Article
- Impact of risk mitigation measures on oral fluoroquinolone prescribing: a multi-site population-based Canadian cohort study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- National retrospective study of regional prescriber-specific variation in community antibiotic prescribing Canada, 2019-2023.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Trends in Medication Use Among Young Adults and the Covid-19 Pandemic Effect.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2025Article
- Overview of Methods for Assessing Antimicrobial Use in Outpatient Settings in High-Income Countries: A Narrative Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Trends in prescription opioid use for pain in Canada: a population-based repeated cross-sectional study of 6 provinces.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Article
- Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Hospital Antimicrobial Purchasing in Canada (2018-2021): An Exploratory Analysis.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2025Article
- Trends in medication use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Longitudinal monitoring of sewershed resistomes in socioeconomically diverse urban neighborhoods.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Rebound of Antibiotic Use and Respiratory Infections After Resumption of Normalcy From COVID-19 in Hong Kong.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
- Antibacterial consumption before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary care pediatric hospital in Mexico.PloS one · 2025Article
- Determining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the consumption of antibiotics in Shaanxi province, China: an interrupted time-series analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- From Routine to Crisis: The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Antibiotic Consumption in Iran.Health science reports · 2024Article
- Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on antibiotic use in Canadian primary care: a matched-cohort study using EMR data.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Article
- Quality of Antibiotic Prescribing for Outpatient Cystitis in Adult Females.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2024Article
- Post-Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Antimicrobial Resistance.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- A comparison between antibiotic utilisation in public and private community healthcare in Malaysia.BMC public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on the incidence of infectious diseases and medical care. This study aimed to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community-level antibiotic use.
methodsUsing national antibiotic dispensing data from IQVIA's CompuScript database, this ecological study investigated antibiotic dispensing through community retail pharmacies in Canada from November 2014 to October 2020. Analyses were stratified by age, sex, prescription origin and approximate indication.
resultsAdjusting for seasonality, the national rate of antibiotic dispensing in Canada decreased by 26.5% (50.4 to 37.0 average prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants) during the first 8 months of the Canadian COVID-19 period (March to October 2020), compared with the pre-COVID-19 period. Prescribing rates in children ≤18 years decreased from 43.7 to 12.2 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants in males (-72%) and from 46.8 to 14.9 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants in females (-68%) in April 2020. Rates in adults ≥65 decreased from 74.9 to 48.8 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants in males (-35%) and from 91.7 to 61.3 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants in females (-33%) in May 2020. Antibiotic prescriptions from family physicians experienced a greater decrease than from surgeons and infectious disease physicians. Prescribing rates for antibiotics for respiratory indications decreased by 56% in May 2020 (29.2 to 12.8 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants), compared with prescribing rates for urinary tract infections (9.4 to 7.8 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants; -17%) and skin and soft tissue infections (6.4 to 5.2 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants; -19%). DISCUSSION: The first 8 months of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced community antibiotic dispensing by 26.5% in Canada, compared with the marginal decrease of 3% in antibiotic consumption between 2015 and 2019. Further research is needed to understand the implications and long-term effects of the observed reductions on antibiotic use on antibiotic resistance in Canada.
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