Title: Use of psychotropic drugs during the argentine quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract:

Background: Socio-economic crisis situations usually generate an increase in psychiatric pathologies. If we add the state of confinement due to quarantine, the picture can get even worse. The data were obtained from a region of Argentina and expressed as defined daily doses (DDD).

Methods: Descriptive observational study. Data were obtained from drug suppliers that provide medicines to community pharmacies. Finding was statistically analyzed by Chisquare test. the consumption measure is defined in DDD.

Results: During the semester from April to September 2020, they used 281,262 DDDs of psychotropic drugs, from October 2019 to March 2020 the amount was 264,486 DDDs and from April 2019 to September 2019 was 252,840 DDDs. Between all semesters there was an increase in the consumption of the four types of psychotropic drugs, although the increase during the quarantine was greater, almost double for antidepressants and hypnotics, not so for Antidepressants. Antipsychotics maintained a non-significant increase.

Conclusions: This work shows the increase in the use of psychotropic drugs during a period of socio-economic crisis that worsened with the quarantine by COVID-19.