Comparison of drug prescribing before and during the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 pandemic: A cross‐national European study

Abstract

The findings from this first European cross-national comparison show a substantial decrease in dispensed volumes of antibiotics for systemic use in all countries/regions. The results also indicate that the provision of medicines for common chronic conditions was mostly resilient to challenges faced during the pandemic. However, there were notable differences between the countries/regions for some therapeutic areas.