Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on rheumatic patients' perceptions and behaviors: A cross-sectional study
Author
Hassen, Lena MostafaAlmaghlouth, Ibrahim A
Hassen, Ikhlass Mostafa
Daghestani, Maha H
Almohisen, Amal A
Alqurtas, Eman M
Alkhalaf, Abdulaziz
Bedaiwi, Mohammed K
Omair, Mohammed A
Almogairen, Sultan M
Alarfaj, Hussein F
Alarfaj, Abdulrahman S
Date
2020-09-17Journal
International Journal of Rheumatic DiseasesPublisher
Wiley-BlackwellType
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Aim: The dynamics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become of special concern to the rheumatology community. Rheumatic patients are required to engage in effective health management but their behavior is often influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This cross-sectional study aims to examine patients' experiences during the current pandemic and its implication on their health perception and behavior. Method: A patient-centered electronic survey was used, randomly sampling rheumatic patients in Saudi Arabia during March and April 2020. Questions included patients' socio-demographics, diseases, medications, COVID-19 knowledge, source of information, fear level, disease activity perception, health care utilization, medication accessibility, and therapeutic compliance (measured using a modified version of Medication Adherence Reporting Scale). Correlation and regression coefficients were used to evaluate associations among the aforementioned variables. Results: A total of 637 respondents were included. The majority were rheumatoid arthritis patients (42.7%). Patients' knowledge about COVID-19 was correlated with social media use (P = .012). Fear of COVID-19 infection correlated with healthcare facility for follow-up visits (P = .024) and fear of disease deterioration if contracting the infection correlated with patients' levels of knowledge (P = .035). Both types of fear did not correlate with patients' perceptions of disease activity. However, patients' perceptions of worsened disease activity were correlated with unplanned healthcare visits (P < .001), medication non-adherence, and difficulty accessing medication (P = .010 and .006, respectively). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and surrounding public health measures could affect rheumatic patients' health management which might contribute to disease flare-up and subsequently taxing healthcare systems even further.Rights/Terms
© 2020 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.Keyword
COVID-19 outbreakdisease activity perception
health care utilization
medication adherence
self-management
Identifier to cite or link to this item
http://hdl.handle.net/10713/13775ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/1756-185X.13959
Scopus Count
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