Income gradient of pharmaceutical panic buying at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic

The impact of paid social Q&A on panic buying and digital hoarding at the stage of coexistence with COVID-19: The moderating role of sensitivity to pain of payment

The worldwide disaster caused by COVID-19 and its variants has changed the behavior and psychology of consumers. Panic buying and hoarding of various commodities continue to emerge in our daily life. Meanwhile, many scholars have focused on the causes of panic buying and hoarding of physical products like daily necessities and food during the outbreak of COVID-19. In fact, the phenomenon of panic buying and digital hoarding of paid social Q&A and other digital content products is very prominent, both in the outbreak period of COVID-19 epidemic and the current coexistence stage. However, the existing literature lacks empirical research to explore this phenomenon, and the psychological mechanism behind it has not been clearly revealed. Therefore, at the current stage of coexistence with COVID-19, based on the SOBC framework, we developed a theoretical model and explored the causes of panic buying and digital hoarding in paid social Q&A. The data collected from 863 paid social Q&A users in China are empirically tested. The results show that the characteristics of paid social Q&A (usefulness, ease of use, professionalism and value) can cause emotional contagion among platform users, activate their willingness to pay, and finally lead to digital hoarding and panic buying behavior of COVID-19 co-existence stage. In addition, the sensitivity to pain of payment moderates the relationship between emotional contagion and willingness to pay. Compared with the spendthrifts, the tightwads are more willing to pay. The conclusions will have positive significance for improving the retail service of digital content platform and promoting the consumption of digital content.

Adherence during COVID-19: The role of aging and socio-economics status in shaping drug utilization

Our study investigates the potential impact that COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions may have had on drug utilization and the role of patient age and education in reshaping it. We focused on patients affected by diabetes mellitus, who are likely to suffer a higher degree of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19. We used a bi-monthly administrative panel dataset from January 2019 to December 2020 from Liguria (Italy), one of the regions with the highest number of individuals over the age of 65 in Europe. The results demonstrated that, after the initial shock, when patients tried to increase their personal stock of drugs to overcome the risk of possible additional barriers generated by the coronavirus, the hoarding effect almost disappeared. Adherence has drastically reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and has never reached pre-COVID levels again. Older and poorly educated patients seem to have suffered more from the restrictions imposed by the lockdown and fear of contagion and they may be the ideal target group when considering possible policy interventions to improve adherence.

Household Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal as a Global Problem-A Review

The negative effect of the pharmaceuticals presence (persistence?) in various components of the environment is a global problem today. These compounds are released into the environment as a result of, inter alia, their use and improper disposal. Therefore, it is important to reduce excessive drug consumption and to develop a system for the collection of unused/expired pharmaceuticals. The effectiveness of actions in this area is inextricably linked with the need to educate society on how to deal properly with unwanted medications. The aim of the study was to show that the inappropriate handling of unused/expired drugs by society is an important problem in waste management systems, and it impacts the state of the environment. Forty-eight scientific articles published between 2012 and 2021 were taken into account that discussed the systems in various countries for the collection of unused/expired pharmaceuticals. This literature review shows that the main method of disposing of unused/expired medications, according to respondents from different countries, is either by disposing of them in household waste or flushing them into the sewage system. This is also the case in countries with systems or programs for the return of redundant drugs, which indicates that these systems are not sufficiently effective. This may be influenced by many factors, including the lack or ineffective education of the society.

Psychotropic drug purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and their relationship with mobility restrictions

Recent literature on the mental health consequences of social distancing measures has found a substantial increase in self-reported sleep disorders, anxiety and depressive symptoms during lockdown periods. We investigate this issue with data on monthly purchases of psychotropic drugs from the universe of Italian pharmacies during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and find that purchases of mental health-related drugs have increased with respect to 2019. However, the excess volumes do not match the massive increase in anxiety and depressive disorders found in survey-based studies. We also study the interplay between mobility, measured with anonymized mobile phone data, and mental health and report no significant effect of mobility restrictions on antidepressants and anxiolytics purchases during 2020. We provide three potential mechanisms that could drive the discrepancy between self-reported mental health surveys and psychotropic drugs prescription registries: (1) stockpiling practices in the early phases of the pandemic; (2) the adoption of compensatory behavior and (3) unexpressed and unmet needs due to both demand- and supply-side shortages in healthcare services.

Heterogeneous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lung, colorectal and breast cancer incidence in Hungary: results from time series and panel data models

OBJECTIVE

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health system resources were reallocated to provide care for patients with COVID-19, limiting access for others. Patients themselves also constrained their visits to healthcare providers. In this study, we analysed the heterogeneous effects of the pandemic on the new diagnoses of lung, colorectal and breast cancer in Hungary.

DESIGN

Time series and panel models of quarterly administrative data, disaggregated by gender, age group and district of residence.

PARTICIPANTS

Data for the whole population of Hungary between the first quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of 2021.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Number of patients newly diagnosed with lung, colorectal and breast cancer, defined as those who were hospitalised with the appropriate primary International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision diagnosis code but had not had hospital encounters with such a code within the previous 5 years.

RESULTS

The incidence of lung, colorectal and breast cancer decreased by 14.4% (95% CI 10.8% to 17.8%), 19.9% (95% CI 12.2% to 26.9%) and 15.5% (95% CI 2.5% to 27.0%), respectively, during the examined period of the pandemic, with different time patterns across cancer types. The incidence decreased more among people at least 65 years old than among the younger (p<0.05 for lung cancer and p<0.1 for colorectal cancer). At the district level, both the previously negative income gap in lung cancer incidence and the previously positive income gap in breast cancer incidence significantly narrowed during the pandemic (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The decline in new cancer diagnoses, caused by a combination of supply-side and demand-side factors, suggests that some cancer cases have remained hidden. It calls for action by policy makers to engage individuals with high risk of cancer more in accessing healthcare services, to diagnose the disease early and to prepare for effective management of patient pathways from diagnosis to survival or end-of-life care.

Does Sustainable Consumption Matter? The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medication Use in Brasov, Romania

Sustainable consumption refers to the choice, purchase, use, and disposal of goods so as to enable all people to meet their present and future objective needs. However, panic caused by the gradual onset of the pandemic had a considerable impact on the behavior of consumption and purchase of medication, and the question remains whether sustainable consumption still matters during a crisis or not. The present study aims to analyze whether the pandemic has influenced the behavior of medication use among residents of Brasov County amid panic caused by the virus and to determine the primary sources of information on methods of the prevention and treatment of health conditions. The study focusses on the differences between the two target groups, young people, and adults, considering three socio-demographic factors, such as age, gender, and background. The present research uses two methods of data collection: an interview with 5 doctors and a questionnaire with 543 respondents. This research draws attention to the fact that the behaviors of purchasing and consuming medication during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed due to the spreading of the new virus and the state of emergency, as well as with medication use becoming less sustainable. The results showed that adults were more engaged in the panic buying of medication compared to young people during the pandemic; however, in normal times, young people use more medication. Our study shows that females tend to consume more medicines than males. Moreover, they are more susceptible for seeking media guidance and following advice from the digital realm, because they avoid going to the doctor, especially during the COVID-19 period. Depending on the environment of residence, it was found that people in rural areas generally tend to consume more medication than those in urban areas. However, during the pandemic, the drug use of this category of population has decreased because they do not tend to self-medicate and avoid visiting the doctor because of the fear of becoming contaminated. The results of the research could help to establish measures in order to prevent the panic buying of self-medication and pharmaceuticals, both during pandemics and in normal times, because such behaviors can have negative effects on both health and the environment.

Household Drug Stockpiling and Panic Buying of Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study From Jordan

The coronavirus disease that emerged in 2019 (COVID-19) has affected health, societies and economies. Policies that have been imposed by different countries to slow the spread of the disease, including national lockdowns, curfews, border closures and enforcement of social distancing measures have disturbed the drug supply chain and resulted in drug shortages. Uncertainty concerning the pandemic has also led to the panic buying of drugs and the stockpiling of drugs in households, which has amplified the problem. In this cross-sectional study, a self-developed questionnaire was distributed online in order to a) assess the practice of household drug stockpiling prior to the national lockdown in Jordan, b) investigate the factors affecting it and c) measure peoples' knowledge about the consequences of this behaviour. Results from this study show that drug purchasing was reported by 44.3% of the participants and was most common among participants from non-medical backgrounds (336, 75.7%) or those who have chronic diseases (261, 58.8%) and taking chronic supplements (282, 63.5%) regardless of their age, gender, living area or the possession of health insurance. Analgesics and antipyretics were the most frequently purchased drugs (225, 70.5%) and anticipation of their need was the most common reason for purchasing drugs (231, 52.0%). Buyers were also less aware, when compared to non-buyers, that panic buying and drug stockpiling may lead to drug shortages (204, 45.9% vs 325, 58.1%) and that this behaviour can pose a health hazard, especially to children (221, 47.5% vs 342, 61.2%). Our study shows that panic buying of drugs and household drug stockpiling were common in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic and this was related to participants' medical knowledge and educational backgrounds. Therefore, educating the general population regarding rational drug use is urgently needed. This is also a compelling case for the development of national guidelines for drug management that target the general population and healthcare personnel, especially pharmacists, to avoid drug shortages during crises.