Author Of 1 Presentation
LB1160 - Multiple Sclerosis patients and Health Care accessibility during COVID-19 Pandemic (ID 1368)
Abstract
Background
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that requires frequent medical follow-up. COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the way patients accessed Health Care facilities including laboratory and imaging exams as well as urgent or routine medical appointments.
Objectives
To assess differences in health care accessibility from a patient perspective since the announcement of the state of emergency, due to COVID-19 pandemic, by the Portuguese government.
Methods
We performed an online questionnaire-based study; 485 adult patients followed in our tertiary centre with the diagnosis of MS were invited to answer the survey that was accessible from April to June 2020.
Results
We included 195 valid questionnaires from 195 patients. Fifty-four percent had a university degree (53.8%) and approximately half of the patients were professionally active. Most of the patients (69.7%) did not experience any symptom related to MS. Fifty-nine patients (30.3%) had new possible MS- related symptoms of whom 37 (62%) sought health care services: 47% had an appointment with their neurologist through a phone call, 22% contacted the MS nurse, 17% contacted the general practitioner, 8% were seen at the MS clinic (by other neurologist) and 6% at the emergency department. About a third of patients (30.6%) who did not seek a health care appointment admitted that would do it otherwise in a non-pandemic context. Regarding scheduled exams, 37 patients (19%) did not perform a scheduled blood collection and 23 (11.8%) did not perform scheduled imaging, mostly due to medical advice (46% and 44% respectively) or due to patient fear (31% and 19%). Eighteen patients (9.2%) stopped their prescribed medication of which 14 did so on their own volition. Thirteen patients were tested for COVID-19, two were positive. More than half the patients (55.9%) considered that teleconsultation was adequate and were satisfied with the information and recommendations provided (59.5%).
Conclusions
We conclude that COVID-19 pandemic markedly impacted Health Care access to MS patients and may change the way MS clinics evaluate and follow their patients as telemedicine emerges as a valuable tool.