Fewer diabetes patients are picking up their insulin prescriptions - another way the pandemic has

[TexasTowelie]

Fewer diabetes patients are picking up their insulin prescriptions – another way the pandemic has delayed health care for many

by Ismaeel Yunusa
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences, University of South Carolina


Insulin is as essential as water for many people with diabetes. Of the more than 30 million Americans with diabetes, approximately 7.4 million rely on insulin to manage their condition. But it is one of the most costly drugs on the market, and the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the already rampant problem of insulin hoarding or rationing.

Not only is diabetes associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 infection, but COVID-19 is also associated with both an increase in new diabetes diagnoses and a worsening of preexisting diabetes complications. By September 2021, death rates for people with diabetes were 50% higher than before the pandemic, a net increase of more than twice the overall death rate of the general population.

I am a pharmacist who studies ways to improve clinical, economic and quality-of-life outcomes in vulnerable populations. My recent study on how insulin prescription rates have changed because of the pandemic underscores the challenges that people with diabetes face in accessing care.

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My recent study looked at the insulin prescription claims of 285,343 people in the U.S. between January 2019 and October 2020. In the first week of 2019, there was an average of 17,037 new and existing insulin prescriptions picked up by patients per week. This number increased by 11 claims each week leading up to the pandemic.

By the first week of the pandemic in March 2020, however, insulin prescriptions decreased significantly by an average of around 396 prescriptions. Prescriptions continued to decrease an average of around 55 per week as the pandemic progressed through to October 2020. This decline may result from a combination of health insurance loss owing to unemployment, restricted access to clinicians and pharmacies and rationing or stockpiling of medications by both pharmacists and patients.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/fewer-diabetes-patients-are-picking-up-their-insulin-prescriptions-another-way-the-pandemic-has-delayed-health-care-for-many-171364

[samplegirl]

1. This is so sad!

Now a big increase in Medicare?

[appalachiablue]

2. On the way to Third World USA, tragic.