ArticleEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists2022
Prescriptions of psychopharmacologic drugs in Austria in 2019 and 2020 - Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psychotropic medication consumption before and after onset of COVID-19 pandemic in 91 countries and regions: a time-series analysis.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- Utilization of antidepressants, anxiolytics, and hypnotics during the COVID-19 pandemic.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Effects of lockdowns on neurobiological and psychometric parameters in unipolar depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rates of adolescents receiving psychopharmacological medication in Austria.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2024Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundMeasures to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have an impact on the mental health of the general population. Drug prescription rates can be used as a surrogate marker to estimate help seeking and health parameters of a population. The aim of this study was to compare psychopharmacologic drug prescriptions in Austria from the start of the pandemic in 2020 over time and with the previous year and to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.
methodsData from the three largest public health insurances in Austria, covering over 98% of the general population, were analyzed. A total of 1,365,294 patients with a prescription of a psychopharmacologic drug in the months March to December in 2019 and 2020 were selected.
resultsThere was no significant change in prescribed defined daily doses (DDDs) during the lockdowns. However, there was a stockpiling effect before and at the beginning of lockdown 1. The number of new patients initiating psychopharmacologic treatment was significantly reduced during lockdown 1 but not during lockdown 2.
conclusionsThe first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 functioned as a barrier for new psychiatric patients seeking help, whereas the patients with ongoing treatments did not have significant problems. These results have to be taken into account for future planning, but follow-up studies are needed, as our results could be indicative of a change in the effect of the protective measures on the utilization of the healthcare system over time.
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