Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Therapeutic Continuity among Outpatients with Chronic Cardiovascular Therapies

Manuela Casula, Federica Galimberti, Marica Iommi, Elena Olmastroni (), Simona Rosa, Mattia Altini, Alberico L. Catapano, Elena Tragni and Elisabetta Poluzzi
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Manuela Casula: Epidemiology and Preventive Pharmacology Service (SEFAP), Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milan, Italy
Federica Galimberti: IRCCS MultiMedica, Via Milanese 300, Sesto S. Giovanni, 20099 Milan, Italy
Marica Iommi: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences-Pharmacology Unit, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 48, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Elena Olmastroni: Epidemiology and Preventive Pharmacology Service (SEFAP), Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milan, Italy
Simona Rosa: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences-Hygiene and Biostatistics Unit, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Mattia Altini: Romagna Local Health Authority, Emilia-Romagna Region, Via A. De Gasperi 8, 48121 Ravenna, Italy
Alberico L. Catapano: Epidemiology and Preventive Pharmacology Service (SEFAP), Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milan, Italy
Elena Tragni: Epidemiology and Preventive Pharmacology Service (SEFAP), Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milan, Italy
Elisabetta Poluzzi: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences-Pharmacology Unit, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 48, 40126 Bologna, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-11

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic poses major challenges to healthcare systems. We aimed to investigate the impact of the pandemic on prescription and adherence patterns of chronic cardiovascular therapies (lipid-lowering [LL], oral antidiabetic drugs [AD], and antihypertensives [AH]) using administrative pharmaceutical databases. For each treatment, two cohorts of prevalent cases in 2019 and 2020 were compared. We evaluated the percentage change in dispensed packages and treatment adherence as a proportion of days covered (PDC). For all therapies, an increase was observed during March–April 2020 (LL: +4.52%; AD: +2.72%; AH: +1.09%), with a sharp decrease in May–June 2020 (LL: −8.40%; AD: −12.09%; AH: −10.54%) compared to 2019. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chronic cardiovascular treatments appears negligible on adherence: 533,414 patients showed high adherence to LL (PDC ≥ 80%) in January–February 2020, and 2.29% became poorly adherent (PDC < 20%) in the following four-month period (vs. 1.98% in 2019). A similar increase was also observed for AH (1.25% with poor adherence in 2020 vs. 0.93% in 2019). For AD, the increase was restrained (1.55% with poor adherence in 2020 vs. 1.37% in 2019). The rush to supply drugs at the beginning of lockdown preserved the continuity of chronic cardiovascular therapies.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; prescriptions; adherence; chronic treatments; cardiovascular diseases (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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