Information-seeking behaviour of community pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic: an ecological study

ObjectiveTo evaluate the information-seeking behaviour of pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relation to COVID-19 and related infections and deaths within the local prefecture. DesignEcological study. SettingJapan-47 prefectures. MethodsThe number of accesses to a Japanese web page established by the Pharmacy Informatics Group to disseminate information about infection control and the number of infections and deaths in 47 prefectures were investigated from 6 April to 30 September 2020 using the access information on the web page and publicly available information. ResultsDuring the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of accesses was 226 130 (range: 10 984-138 898 per month), the total number of infections was 78 761 (1738-31 857) and the total number of deaths was 1470 (39-436). The correlation between the total number of accesses and that of infections per 100 000 individuals in 47 prefectures was r=0.72 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.83, p<0.001), and between the total number of accesses and deaths per 100 000 individuals in 47 prefectures was r=0.44 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.65, p=0.002). ConclusionsThe information-seeking behaviour of community pharmacists correlated positively with infection status within the community.

Automated summary

An ecological study was conducted to evaluate the information-seeking behavior of pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan's 47 prefectures and its relation to infection rates and deaths within the community. The study found a positive correlation between the information-seeking behavior of pharmacists and the infection status within the community.