Impact in the Medical Care Among the Rheumatic Diseases Patients in a Hospital in México During COVID-19 Pandemic

National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition, Salvador Zubiran670 enrolled

Overview

The National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition is a national reference center for rheumatic diseases that belongs to The National Institutes of Health, and has Federal founding. More than 8,000 patients with a wide variety of rheumatologic diagnosis receive medical care. On March 2020, the WHO announced COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. The first case was registered in Mexico on February 2020. In March 2020, the Mexican Government requested that our Institution should restrict health care to exclusively COVID-19 patients; accordingly, outpatient consultations were, and up to August 2020 still, hold on. Meanwhile, when possible, the Department of Immunology and Rheumatology has implemented an "on-demand", non-organized patient´s health care, through email and phone contact; nonetheless, and due to the middle-low socioeconomic status of most of our patients and limited technical resources available at our Institution, the attempt has been challenging.

The aim objective of this project is to explore patients perception about access to medical care and to medications, access to communication with their primary rheumatologist and patients risk perception about COVID-19 disease, for this a survey directed (questionnaire locally developed) will apply and to explore how the reintegration at the usual medical care has a positive impact in the patient´s disease activity, patient´s quality of life and psychopathology (depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress).

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

670

Conditions

Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Life

Interventions

COVID-19 surveyOTHER

A questionnaire locally developed to explore access to medical care and to medications, access to communication with their primary rheumatologist, and patients risk perception about COVID-19 disease

RAPID-3OTHER

The instrument measures function, pain, and patient global estimate of status, with correspond to activity disease

WHOQOL-BREFOTHER

The instrument measures the patient´s quality of life (4 dimensions: physics, phycological, social, and environment)

DASS-21 instrument (depression and anxiety)OTHER

The instrument measures the presence of depression and anxiety

IER-R (posttraumatic stress)OTHER

The instrument measures the presence of posttraumatic stress

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with a rheumatic disease diagnosis according to their primary rheumatologist who agree to participate Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with a not confirmed rheumatic disease * Patients lost to follow-up from the outpatient for \> 1 year period * Patients with pregnancy plans

Locations (1)

Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán

Mexico City, Tlalpan, Mexico

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in the pattern of the usual medical care among the rheumatic disease patients

To determinate the proportion of the rheumatic disease patients affected in their usual medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic in our Institution with the COVID-19 survey (locally development)

Time frame: At study inclusion (The first medical consultation posterior to open the external outpatient's service, post COVID-19 pandemic)

Secondary Outcomes

Change in the patient's activity disease

Change in the activity disease measured as RAPID-3 of the Rheumatic disease patients in a 6 months follow-up. The results will express with a scale 0 to 30 a \> number \> disease activity