{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antidepressant consumption in the Central region of Portugal: interrupted time series.
{Author}: Negrão LG;Coelho C;Castel-Branco MM;Figueiredo IV;Fernandez-Llimos F;
{Journal}: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
{Volume}: 0
{Issue}: 0
{Year}: 2024 Jul 13
{Factor}: 4.519
{DOI}: 10.1007/s00127-024-02731-0
{Abstract}: <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>To evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the consumption of antidepressive agents in Central Portugal.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>To estimate the causal effect of the pandemic an interrupted time series analysis was conducted. Data of antidepressant drugs monthly dispensed in community pharmacies between Jan-2010 and Dec-2021 were provided by the regional Health Administration. Anti-Parkinson dopaminergic agents and statins, theoretically not influenced by COVID-19 pandemics, were used as comparator series. The number of packages was converted into defined daily doses and presented as defined daily doses/1000 inhabitants/day. A Bayesian structural time-series model with CausalImpact on R/RStudio was used to predict the counterfactual. Analyses with different geographical granularity (9 sub-regions and 78 municipalities) were performed.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>When compared to counterfactual, regional consumption non-significantly increased after the pandemic declaration, with a relative effect of + 1.30% [95%CI -1.6%:4.2%]. When increasing the granularity, differences appeared between sub-region with significant increases in Baixo Mondego + 6.5% [1.4%:11.0%], Guarda + 4.4% [1.1%:7.7%] or Cova da Beira + 4.1% [0.17%:8.3%], but non-significant variation in the remaining 6 sub-regions. Differences are more obvious at municipality level, ranging from increases of + 37.00% [32.00%:42.00%] to decreases of -11.00% [-17.00%:-4.20%]. Relative impact positively correlated with percentage of elderly in the municipality (r = 0.301; p = 0.007), and negatively with population density (r=-0.243; p = 0.032). No other predicting variables were found.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Antidepressant consumption suffered very slight variations at regional level after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. Analysis with higher granularity allowed identifying municipalities with higher impact (increase or decrease). The absence of clear association patterns suggests other causal hypotheses of the differences.