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Research Article: Community Use of Repurposed Drugs Before and During COVID- Pandemic in the Netherlands: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis

Date Published: 2023-09-04

Abstract:
Since the outbreak, more than . (out of .) million people in the Netherlands have been infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-). The COVID- pandemic and the government measures implemented to contain the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-) virus have posted major challenges to healthcare systems. At the beginning of the COVID- pandemic, many different preventive or therapeutic registered drugs were explored as off-label use for COVID-, such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), ivermectin, and corticosteroids, which were identified in previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses.– Recent studies have reported that the dispensing of the repurposed drugs increased or decreased significantly after the declaration of the COVID- pandemic– in Australia and the US, but little was known about whether the dispensing of these drugs in Europe or the Netherlands was experiencing the similar alteration as in other countries. In addition, the above studies did not take the stringency of government’s measures into account, which was not constant during the COVID- period. The stringency index is a real-time composite measure calculated by the Oxford Government Tracker Team that reflects the stringency of government responses to the pandemic. Nine metrics are used to calculate the stringency index, including school and workplace closures, public event cancellations, restrictions on public gatherings, public transportation closures, stay-at-home requirements, etc. The stringency index is a more accurate parameter than simply dividing the pandemic period into multiple time periods, as it can assess and quantify the extent to which the pandemic changes people’s dispensing behavior.

Introduction:
Since the outbreak, more than . (out of .) million people in the Netherlands have been infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-). The COVID- pandemic and the government measures implemented to contain the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-) virus have posted major challenges to healthcare systems. At the beginning of the COVID- pandemic, many different preventive or therapeutic registered drugs were explored as off-label use for COVID-, such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ),…

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