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AKICI, AHMET

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Author: TAZEGÜL, GÖKHAN ×

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    Impact of covid-19 pandemic on nationwide antidiabetic drug utilization
    (2023-05-16) TAZEGÜL, GÖKHAN; AKICI, AHMET; VİZDİKLAR C., AYDIN V., TAZEGÜL G., AKICI A.
    Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in various outcomes that have altered disease prevalence and drug utilization patterns. Our study aimed to evaluate the trends in the utilization and costs of antidiabetic medications before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in Turkey. Methods We obtained nationwide sales data for antidiabetics from IQVIA Turkey, spanning between April 2018 and March 2022. Mean monthly drug utilization and expenditure trends before the pandemic (April 2018-March 2020) and during the pandemic (April 2020-March 2022) were compared. Drug utilization was measured by defined daily dose/1000 inhabitants/day (DID) unit. Results Utilization of antidiabetic drugs increased significantly from 125.7G12.5 DID before the pandemic to 158.3G25.7 DID during the pandemic (P! 0.001). There was a considerable rise in the use of oral antidiabetics, with utilization increasing from 71.2G6.9 DID prior to the pandemic to 90.6G17.2 DID (P! 0.001). Moreover, insulins and their analogs were utilized more frequently during the pandemic, rising from the pre-pandemic levels of 52.4G6.7 DID to 65.4G10.0 DID (P! 0.001). Marked increases were observed in the expenses for antidiabetics, moving from 65.4G8.4 to 86.7G15.0 million Euros (P! 0.001). These increments were noted both for oral antidiabetics (from 35.8G5.6 to 50.4G10.2 million Euros, P! 0.001) and insulins (from 27.1G3.7 to 33.4G5.7 million Euros, P! 0.001). Conclusion Our study demonstrated a surge in the utilization and expenditure of antidiabetics in the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, compared to prepandemic levels. These results should be considered in evaluating the association of COVID-19 infection with chronic diseases such as diabetes, as well as the outcomes of interventions to facilitate access to drugs for extraordinary circumstances.
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    Use of lipid-lowering drugs in restricted health access settings: Results from the Trends in Drug Utilization During COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey (PANDUTI-TR) study
    (2024-09-01) TAZEGÜL, GÖKHAN; KAŞKAL, MERT; AKICI, AHMET; Vizdiklar C., AYDIN V., Tazegul G., KAŞKAL M., AKICI A.
    Background: COVID-19 restrictions prompted changes in chronic disease management and lifestyle modifications, potentially altering cardiometabolic indicators and lipid-lowering pharmacotherapy patterns. We aimed to assess lipid-lowering drug (LLD) utilization trends during COVID-19 restrictions. Methods: We obtained nationwide outpatient drug sales and prescribing data for 01.03.2018–31.12.2022 from IQVIA™ Turkey. We evaluated average monthly LLD consumption, their costs, and quarterly prescribing levels in three periods: \"before restrictions\" (BfR, 01.03.2018–31.03.2020), \"during restrictions\" (DuR, 01.04.2020–31.03.2022), and \"after restrictions\" (AfR, 01.04.2022–31.12.2022). Drug utilization was measured via \"defined daily dose/1000 inhabitants/day\" (DID) metric. Results: LLD utilization increased from 25.4 ± 3.1 DID in BfR to 36.2 ± 6.8 DID in DuR (p < 0.001), and to 42.6 ± 5.3 DID in AfR (p < 0.001 vs. BfR). Statin consumption significantly rose from 22.0 ± 3.0 DID in BfR to 31.6 ± 6.3 DID in DuR (p < 0.001), and further to 37.6 ± 4.7 DID in AfR (p < 0.01 vs. DuR). High-intensity statin consumption elevated by 115.9% in AfR compared to baseline (p < 0.001). Prescribing of LLDs decreased from 12.5 ± 0.6 DID in BfR to 7.2 ± 1.2 DID in DuR (p < 0.001), later reached 13.6 ± 3.8 DID in AfR (p < 0.001 vs. DuR), with prescribing for ongoing users following similar trend. Expenditure on LLDs increased from €8.4 m ± 0.9 m in BfR to €11.4 m ± 2.0 m in DuR (p < 0.001) and to €12.8 m ± 1.9 m in AfR (p < 0.001 vs. BfR). Conclusions: This study revealed a surge in consumption of LLDs in Turkey following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise might be related to practices facilitating drug access, in addition to potentially greater adherence, or the necessity for more intense pharmacotherapy due to elevated cardiovascular risk.