Table 2.
Physician visits and medication prescriptions among patients with major chronic diseases before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
| Outcome | September 2019 |
October 2019 |
November 2019 |
December 2019 |
January 2020 |
February 2020 |
March 2020 |
April 2020 |
May 2020 |
| The number of physician visits, mean (95% CI) | |||||||||
| Patients in the whole nation | 1.9 (1.8 to 1.9) | 2.0 (1.9 to 2.0) | 2.0 (1.9 to 2.0) | 2.0 (1.9 to 2.0) | 1.9 (1.9 to 2.0) | 1.9 (1.8 to 2.0) | 1.9 (1.9 to 2.0) | 1.7 (1.6 to 1.7) | 1.8 (1.8 to 1.9) |
| Patients in the prefectures most affected by COVID-19 | 1.9 (1.8 to 1.9) | 2.0 (1.9 to 2.1) | 2.0 (1.9 to 2.1) | 2.0 (2.0 to 2.1) | 1.9 (1.9 to 2.0) | 1.9 (1.9 to 2.0) | 2.0 (1.9 to 2.1) | 1.7 (1.6 to 1.8) | 1.9 (1.8 to 1.9) |
| Patients in the other prefectures | 1.7 (1.6 to 1.8) | 1.8 (1.7 to 1.9) | 1.8 (1.7 to 1.9) | 1.8 (1.7 to 1.9) | 1.7 (1.6 to 1.8) | 1.8 (1.6 to 1.9) | 1.7 (1.6 to 1.8) | 1.6 (1.5 to 1.7) | 1.6 (1.5 to 1.7) |
| The proportion of patients who did not visit any physicians (%) (95% CI) | |||||||||
| Patients in the whole nation | 18 (17 to 19) | 16 (16 to 17) | 15 (14 to 16) | 16 (15 to 16) | 16 (16 to 17) | 18 (17 to 19) | 15 (15 to 16) | 24 (23 to 25) | 9 (8 to 10) |
| Patients in the prefectures most affected by COVID-19 | 18 (17 to 19) | 16 (15 to 17) | 14 (14 to 15) | 15 (15 to 16) | 16 (15 to 17) | 18 (17 to 19) | 14 (14 to 15) | 25 (24 to 26) | 7 (7 to 8) |
| Patients in the other prefectures | 20 (18 to 22) | 17 (15 to 19) | 17 (15 to 19) | 17 (15 to 18) | 19 (17 to 20) | 19 (17 to 20) | 18 (17 to 20) | 22 (20 to 24) | 15 (13 to 16) |
| The proportion of days covered by prescribed medication (PDC) (%), mean (95% CI) | |||||||||
| Patients in the whole nation | 86 (86 to 87) | 87 (87 to 88) | 87 (87 to 88) | 89 (89 to 90) | 85 (85 to 86) | 87 (86 to 87) | 87 (86 to 87) | 87 (87 to 88) | 85 (85 to 86) |
| Patients in the prefectures most affected by COVID-19 | 86 (86 to 87) | 87 (86 to 87) | 87 (87 to 88) | 89 (89 to 90) | 85 (85 to 86) | 87 (86 to 87) | 87 (86 to 87) | 87 (86 to 88) | 85 (84 to 85) |
| Patients in the other prefectures | 88 (87 to 89) | 88 (87 to 89) | 88 (87 to 89) | 90 (89 to 91) | 87 (86 to 88) | 88 (87 to 89) | 88 (87 to 89) | 89 (88 to 90) | 86 (85 to 87) |
We showed the changes in physician visits and medication prescriptions among patients who visited physicians and received prescriptions for major chronic diseases at least once from September 2019 to February 2020. We calculated each value from September 2019 to February 2020 based on data on patients who visited physicians and received prescriptions for major chronic diseases at least once, both from March 2018 to the previous month, and from September 2019 to February 2020. For calculating each outcome from March 2020 to May 2020, we used data on those who visited physicians and received prescriptions for major chronic diseases at least once from September 2019 to February 2020. The prefectures most affected by COVID-19 were defined as the seven prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka) where the state of emergency over COVID-19 was declared on 7 April 2020.
PDC, proportion of days covered by prescribed medication.