Prescription rates of cardiovascular and diabetes therapies prior to and during the COVID-19 lockdown in Germany.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the development in the number of patients receiving cardiovascular or antidiabetic medications from pharmacies in the first quarter of 2020. This cross-sectional study was based on the data from more than 10 million patients in the IMS longitudinal prescription (LRx) database. The outcome of this study was the development in the number of patients receiving cardiovascular or diabetic medications from pharmacies in January, February, and March 2020, compared to January, February, and March 2019. From March 2019 to March 2020, there was a 39% increase in angiotensin II antagonist prescriptions, a 33% increase in lipid-lowering drug prescriptions, a 32% increase in calcium channel blocker (CCB) prescriptions, a 30% increase in beta blocker prescriptions, a 27% increase in angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, vitamin k antagonist (VKA), and oral antidiabetic prescriptions, a 24% increase in diuretic prescriptions, and an 18% increase in insulin prescriptions. The largest increase was found in the age group of 18-40 years (e.g., 57% for VKA, 52% for CCB and angiotensin II antagonists), and the smallest increase occurred in the age group over 80 years (for example, 10% for VKA, 9% for oral antidiabetics, and 3% for insulins). The number of patients receiving their drugs from pharmacies was significantly higher in March 2020 than in March 2019, which is an indication of good therapy adherence. Additional studies are needed to examine adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic and possible age differences in adherence.