School of Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Clin Exp Dent Res. 2024 Aug;10(4):e913. doi: 10.1002/cre2.913.
After the shutdown of most dental services during the COVID-19 lockdown, the oral health community was concerned about an increase in prescribing opioids and antibiotics by dentists due to patients' limited access to dental offices. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the pattern of antibiotic and opioid prescriptions by dentists in Alberta, Canada.
Data obtained from the Tracked Prescription Program were divided into antibiotics and opioids. Time periods were outlined as pre-, during-, and postlockdown (phase 1 and 2). For the number of prescriptions and average supply, each monthly average was compared to the corresponding prelockdown monthly average, using descriptive analysis. Time series analyses were conducted using regression analyses with an autoregressive error model. Data were trained and tested on monthly observations before lockdown and predicted for during- and postlockdown.
A total of 1.1 million antibiotics and 400,000 opioids dispense were tracked. Decreases in the number of prescriptions during lockdown presented for antibiotics (n = 24,933 vs. 18,884) and opioids (n = 8892 vs. 6051). Average supplies (days) for the antibiotics (n = 7.10 vs. 7.55) and opioids (n = 3.92 vs. 4.05) were higher during the lockdown period. In the trend analyses, the monthly number of antibiotic and opioid prescriptions showed the same pattern and decreased during lockdown.
The COVID-19 pandemic altered the trends of prescribing antibiotics and opioids by dentists. The full impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the population's oral health in light of changes in prescribing practices by dentists during and after lockdown warrants further investigation.
在 COVID-19 封锁期间大多数牙科服务关闭后，由于患者就诊牙科诊所的机会有限，口腔健康界担心牙医会增加开处阿片类药物和抗生素的情况。因此，本研究的目的是调查 COVID-19 大流行对加拿大艾伯塔省牙医开处抗生素和阿片类药物模式的影响。
从跟踪处方计划中获取的数据分为抗生素和阿片类药物。时间范围概述为封锁前、封锁中和封锁后（第 1 阶段和第 2 阶段）。对于处方数量和平均供应量，使用描述性分析将每个月的平均值与封锁前的相应月平均值进行比较。使用自回归误差模型的回归分析进行时间序列分析。在封锁前的每月观察数据上进行训练和测试，并对封锁期间和封锁后进行预测。
共跟踪了 110 万份抗生素和 40 万份阿片类药物。在封锁期间，抗生素（n=24933 比 18884）和阿片类药物（n=8892 比 6051）的处方数量减少。抗生素（n=7.10 比 7.55）和阿片类药物（n=3.92 比 4.05）的平均供应量（天）在封锁期间更高。在趋势分析中，每月抗生素和阿片类药物的处方数量呈现出相同的模式，在封锁期间减少。
COVID-19 大流行改变了牙医开处抗生素和阿片类药物的趋势。鉴于封锁期间和之后牙医处方习惯的变化，COVID-19 大流行对人群口腔健康的全面影响值得进一步调查。
