The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dispensing of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) in Ireland: A population based study

Abstract

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic had considerable implications for cancer related care. This study aimed to examine its impact on the dispensing of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) in Ireland.

Study design

A repeated cross-sectional design was used which involved a quasi-experimental interrupted time series analysis (ITSA), and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models.

Methods

This nationally representative study utilised monthly pharmacy claims (i.e. dispensing) data from community and hospital schemes. Dispensed items among individuals prescribed any SACT from January 2019 to April 2021 were included.

Results

During the study period, 641,273 SACT items were dispensed, including 57,199 chemotherapeutic agents (8.9 %), 15,970 immunotherapeutic agents (2.5 %), 87,813 targeted therapies (13.7 %), and 480,291 (74.9 %) endocrine therapies. There were on average 3.3 and 4.1 fewer immunotherapy and targeted therapy agents, respectively, dispensed per 100,000 population per month post-March 2020 (vs. expected), compared to the level prior to March 2020. For endocrine therapy, there was a significant slowing of the trend post-March 2020 compared to the pre-pandemic period (slope change = −1.72, 95 % CI -2.9 to −0.5; p<0.01).

Conclusion

There was a significant level decrease in the dispensing of immunotherapy and targeted therapy during the first year of the pandemic, and a slowing of the trend for endocrine therapies. However, no differences in the dispensing of other SACT were observed.