{"doi":"10.1016/j.dadr.2023.100135","title":"Impact of COVID-19-related regulatory changes on nationwide access to buprenorphine: An interrupted time series design","abstract":"Background: The impact of COVID-19-related healthcare changes on access to buprenorphine (BUP) nationwide in the US is unknown. Methods: We conducted an interrupted time series with the IQVIA LRx database. The study timeline included BUP prescriptions from 52 weeks before (2/23/19-2/21/20) to 52 weeks after (4/4/20-4/2/21) the initial pandemic period (2/22/20-4/3/20). Segmented regression estimated relative changes in total milligrams (MG) of BUP available per week nationwide at 1, 26, and 52 weeks post-initial-pandemic. We evaluated treatment disruptions in previously stable patients, defined as ≥6 months of BUP prescriptions. Results: A total of 31 617 849 prescriptions were included. Total MG BUP dispensed increased at 1 and 26 weeks and then returned to baseline trends at 52 weeks post-initial pandemic period (4.1% [95% CI: 3.7,4.5], 2.1% [1.5,2.6], 0.1% [-0.6,0.9]). Stably-treated patients saw a decrease in 7-, 14-, and 28-day treatment disruptions at 52 weeks post-initial-pandemic period (-21.6% [-25.6,-17.7]; -10.8% [-16.3,-5.3]; -27.3% [-33.0,-21.6]). Men retained an increase in MG BUP compared to women at 52 weeks (0.7% [0.01,1.4] versus -0.6% [-1.5,0.2]). Younger age groups (18-29 years and 30-39 years) had a decrease in MG BUP at 52 weeks compared to expected baseline trend (-16.6 [-24.2, -9.0]; -1.6 [-3.0, -0.1). Patients with Medicaid demonstrated an increase in MG BUP at 52 weeks (8.3% [6.3,10.3]). MG BUP prescribed by APP prescribing increased by over 140 000 mg per week prior to the pandemic and continued to increase. Conclusions: Regulatory changes around buprenorphine prescribing facilitated patient access to buprenorphine during the pandemic.","journal":"Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports","year":2023,"id":345582,"datarank":0.8183795630653756,"base_score":2.5649493574615367,"endowment":2.5649493574615367,"self_citation_contribution":0.38474240361923057,"citation_network_contribution":0.4336371594461451,"self_endowment_contribution":0.38474240361923057,"citer_contribution":0.4336371594461451,"corpus_percentile":75.35391042005105,"corpus_rank":3187,"citation_count":12,"citer_count":9,"citers_with_citation_signal":4,"citers_with_endowment":4,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":true,"is_dataset_confidence":0.6305,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":523645,"name":"Katherine Callaway Kim","orcid":"0000-0002-2924-6165","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":650501,"name":"Katie J. Suda","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":284377,"name":"Jing Luo","orcid":"0000-0002-1190-553X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1085564,"name":"Xiaoming Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-7255-8228","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1086037,"name":"Donna Olejniczak","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":503280,"name":"Jane M. Liebschutz","orcid":"0000-0003-3492-1521","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":320828,"name":"Payel Roy","orcid":"0000-0002-8177-2058","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":37,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:11:44.152490Z","pmid":"36694665","pmcid":"PMC9851915","fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}