ArticleBMJ open2022
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.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Antibacterial prescribing for acute upper respiratory infections in outpatients in Finland, 2017-2021: a Finnish registry study.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on private healthcare service utilisation: time series analysis in the capital region of Finland during 2020-2022.BMC public health · 2024Article
- From Routine to Crisis: The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Antibiotic Consumption in Iran.Health science reports · 2024Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on healthcare booking and cancellation patterns: time series analysis of private healthcare service utilisation in Finland.BMC health services research · 2024Article
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- Outpatient Antibiotic Use and Costs in Adults: A Nationwide Register-Based Study in Finland 2008-2019.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- A Time Series Analysis Evaluating Antibiotic Prescription Rates in Long-Term Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Alberta and Ontario, Canada.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Prevalence of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Study of 2 167 453 Outpatients.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the trajectories of acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), COVID-19, and the use of antibiotics in Finland during the COVID-19 epidemic.
designPopulation-based cohort study.
settingElectronic medical records from a nationwide healthcare chain in Finland.
participants833 444 patients from a cohort of 1 970 013 Finns who had used medical services between 2017 and 2020.
main outcome measuresNumber 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 in COVID-19 by collecting Google search trend frequencies.
resultsThere was a rapid increase in COVID-related internet searches between weeks 10 and 12. At the same time, there was a 106% increase in diagnoses of acute URTIs, from 410 per 100 000 inhabitants to 845 per 100 000. The first COVID-19 cases were diagnosed on week 11. Prescriptions for URTI-related antibiotics declined by 71% (403 per 100 000 to 117 per 100 000) between weeks 11 and 15 while no relevant change took place in prescriptions of antibiotics for urinary tract infections.
conclusionsAt the beginning of the epidemic, many people contacted healthcare professionals with relatively mild symptoms, as indicated by the reduced rate of URTI-antibiotics prescriptions. Our findings indicate that health service providers should be prepared for rapid variations in service demand. Securing access of true COVID-19 patients to proper diagnostics, care and isolation measures may help in preventing the spread of the disease.
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