ArticlePloS one2023
Outpatient antibiotic prescribing during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: A nationwide register-based time series analysis.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Outpatient Antibiotic Dispensing Trends Across Canadian Provinces, 2012-2022: A Population-Based Descriptive Study.Cureus · 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
- Antibacterial prescribing for acute upper respiratory infections in outpatients in Finland, 2017-2021: a Finnish registry study.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026Article
- Stable Overall Volume, Shifting Structure: Nine Years of Paediatric Outpatient Prescribing and Dispensing in Finland, 2017-2025.Clinical epidemiology · 2026Article
- Saline nasal irrigation for acute sinusitis (SNIFS II): a randomised controlled pilot trial with nested process evaluation.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Epidemiology and risk factors ofEuro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Long-term forecast for antibacterial drug consumption in Germany using ARIMA models.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Trends of antibiotic use for acute upper respiratory infections in Chinese emergency departments and the impact of COVID-19: a cross-sectional study.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2025Article
- The impact of day care attendance on antibiotic use among children aged 0-12 years: A population-based register study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Non-dispensed prescriptions - A nationwide descriptive study.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed an enormous burden on health care systems around the world. Simultaneously, many countries have reported a decrease in the incidence of other infectious diseases, such as acute respiratory infections, leading to a decline in outpatient antibiotic use. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on outpatient antibiotic prescribing in Finland during the first 2 years of the pandemic. We used nationwide register data, applied descriptive methods, and conducted an interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) using ARIMA modelling. Results from the ARIMA modelling showed that at the baseline, before the pandemic, the level of monthly number of antibiotic prescriptions was 248,560 (95% CI: 224,261 to 272,856; p<0.001) and there was a decreasing trend of 1,202 in monthly number of prescriptions (95% CI: -2,107 to -262; p<0.01). After the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was a statistically significant decline of 48,470 (95% CI: -76,404 to -20,535, p<0.001) prescriptions (-19.5% from the baseline level). The greatest decrease in antibiotic prescribing was observed among children aged 0-17 years. While antibiotic prescribing declined in all antibiotic groups associated with respiratory tract infections, the decrease from 2019 to 2020 was the largest with azithromycin (52.6%), amoxicillin (44.8%), and doxycycline (43.8%). Future studies should continue exploring antibiotic prescribing trends during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
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