Prescriptions crammed for antiviral medicines had been up 314% within the final three months of 2022, in comparison with final 12 months, new analysis exhibits.
The info was revealed final week by Evernorth, a subsidiary of Cigna. The Evernorth Analysis Institute examined pharmacy claims information for greater than 16 million individuals to conduct the research.
Flu season sometimes lasts from September to August. Within the twelfth week of the 2022-2023 flu season, there have been 1,093 members per 1 million filling prescriptions for antiviral medicines. Throughout the identical interval final 12 months, there have been 264 members per 1 million. Knowledge from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention exhibits that the variety of flu vaccines distributed within the U.S. is to date decrease within the 2022-2023 season, in comparison with the 2021-2022 season and the 2020-2021 season.
“Our analysis signifies that extra individuals are getting sick with the flu earlier on this season, and that their signs are extreme sufficient to warrant a health care provider’s go to and a prescription whereas flu vaccination charges are decrease than earlier years,” stated Urvashi Patel, vp of the Evernorth Analysis Institute, stated in an electronic mail.
Kids have a better want for flu medicines, in comparison with different age teams, the research additionally discovered.
“The upper prevalence may very well be a results of mother and father and guardians being extra more likely to search medical consideration for his or her dependents,” Patel stated within the report. “Adults themselves might not at all times search medical consideration when they’re sick, significantly if their signs are delicate.”
Location additionally performs a task, in accordance with Evernorth. Southern states have a better prevalence of antiviral treatment utilization, with 1,639 members per 1 million filling prescriptions for antiviral treatment within the twelfth week of the flu season, in comparison with 845 within the Midwest, 927 within the Northeast and 708 within the West. This correlates with decrease flu vaccination charges within the South, the researchers stated. Southern states have a excessive rural inhabitants, which frequently struggles to entry vaccines.
Moreover, use of flu antiviral medicines varies by race and ethnicity, with larger utilization amongst individuals in areas with the “most social wants,” the report stated. That is according to different analysis that exhibits Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native populations have larger charges of hospitalization and admission to intensive care items for the flu, in comparison with White individuals.
Primarily based on these findings, employers and payers should play a task in encouraging individuals to get vaccinated for the flu, Patel stated.
“One of the best protection now we have in opposition to flu is vaccination. We advocate employers and well being plans encourage and make it straightforward for his or her members to get vaccinated, resembling via training, selling well being incentives, and internet hosting on-site flu vaccine clinics,” he stated in an electronic mail.
Photograph: dragana991, Getty Photos
