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Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on access to healthcare services amongst patients with multiple sclerosis in the Lazio region, Italy
Author(s) -
Colais Paola,
Cascini Silvia,
Balducci Maria,
Agabiti Nera,
Davoli Marina,
Fusco Danilo,
Calandrini Enrico,
Bargagli Anna Maria
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/ene.14879
Subject(s) - medicine , pandemic , health care , psychological intervention , population , telehealth , rehabilitation , multidisciplinary approach , covid-19 , family medicine , telemedicine , disease , emergency medicine , physical therapy , nursing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , environmental health , social science , sociology , economics , economic growth
Background and purpose Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex chronic, autoimmune inflammatory disease involving multidisciplinary assessments and interventions. Access to outpatient specialist and home healthcare services was explored during the pandemic outbreak and the lockdown amongst MS patients in the Lazio region. Adherence to disease‐modifying therapies (DMTs) is also described. Methods A population‐based study was conducted using regional healthcare administrative databases. A validated algorithm was used to identify MS cases over the period 2011–2018. The numbers of specialist and home‐based services were compared between 2019 and 2020. The medication possession ratio was used to measure adherence to DMTs. Results A total of 9380 MS patients were identified (68% women). A decline in the number of outpatient care services between March and June 2020 compared to the previous year was observed, in particular for rehabilitation (−82%), magnetic resonance imaging (−56%) and neurological specialist services (−91%). Important year‐to‐year variations were observed in May and June 2020 in home‐based nursing and medical care (−91%) and motor re‐education services (−74%). Adherence to DMTs was higher in the first 4 months of 2019 compared to the same period of 2020 (67.1% vs. 57.0%). Conclusions A notable disruption of rehabilitative therapy and home‐based services as well as in DMT adherence was observed. Since the pandemic is still ongoing and interruption of healthcare services could have a major impact on MS patients, it is necessary to monitor access of MS patients to healthcare resources in order to ensure adequate treatments, including rehabilitative therapies.