The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and stringent social distancing measures on health-related quality of life and COVID-19 infection rates in patients with rheumatic disease: a longitudinal analysis through the pandemic.

Raizada, Saizada R; Barkham, Nick; Venkatachalam, Srinivasan; Sheeran, Tom P; Adizie, Tochukwu; Sapkota, Hem; Bateman, James

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and stringent social distancing measures on health-related quality of life and COVID-19 infection rates in patients with rheumatic disease: a longitudinal analysis through the pandemic.

Authors

Raizada, Saizada R

Barkham, Nick

Venkatachalam, Srinivasan

Sheeran, Tom P

Adizie, Tochukwu

Sapkota, Hem

Bateman, James

Issue Date

2023-01-16

Type

Cohort Study
Longitudinal Study
Observational Study
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Prospective Study

Keywords

SMS Communications
Health policy
Quality of life
Health related quality of life
Patient outcomes
Rheumatic disease
Social isolation
Social distancing
COVID-19
Clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV)
Vaccination
Long COVID
Mental health
Physical health
SMS text message
Sheilding
Aged

Journal Title

Rheumatology: Advances in Practice

Volume

7

Issue

1

Begin page

rkad009

Full item page

URI

https://rwt.dspace-express.com/handle/20.500.12687/1435

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/rap/rkad009

Abstract

Objective: The aim was to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and stringent social isolation measures on patients with rheumatic disease (RD) from the beginning of the pandemic (April 2020). Methods: In this UK-based single-centre, prospective, observational cohort study, all RD follow-up patients at our centre were invited by SMS text message in April 2020 to participate in the study. Participants completed questionnaires at four time points between April 2020 and December 2021. We collected demographics, clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) status, short form 12 mental (MCS) and physical health component scores (PCS) for health-related quality of life, vaccination status, COVID-19 infection rates and incidence of long COVID. Results: We enrolled 1605 patients (female, 69.0%; CEV, 46.5%); 906 of 1605 (56.4%) completed linked responses to our final questionnaire. MCS improved (+0.6, P < 0.05), whereas PCS scores deteriorated (-1.4, P < 0.001) between April 2020 and December 2021. CEV patients had worse mental and physical health scores than non-CEV patients at entry (PCS, 36.7 and 39.3, respectively, P < 0.001; MCS, 40.9 and 43.0, respectively, P < 0.001) and at each time point throughout the study; both mental and physical health outcomes were worse in CEV compared with non-CEV patients (P < 0.001 and P = 0.004, respectively). At study close, 148 of 906 (16.3%) reported COVID infection, with no difference in infection, vaccination or long COVID rates between CEV and non-CEV patients. Conclusions: Mental and physical health in RD patients has changed throughout the pandemic; outcomes for both metrics of health were worse in CEV patients, although there were no differences in infection rates between the groups. These data might assist the understanding and planning of future health-care policy and social restrictions in RD patients.

Citation

Cox N, Raizada SR, Barkham N, Venkatachalam S, Sheeran TP, Adizie T, Sapkota H, Scott IC, Muller S, Bateman J. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and stringent social distancing measures on health-related quality of life and COVID-19 infection rates in patients with rheumatic disease: a longitudinal analysis through the pandemic. Rheumatol Adv Pract. 2023 Jan 16;7(1):rkad009. doi: 10.1093/rap/rkad009. PMID: 36751643; PMCID: PMC9897299.