Lena M. Hassen|Ibrahim Almaghlouth|Ikhlass Mostafa Hassen|Maha H. Daghestani|Amal Almohisen|Eman Alqurtas|Abdulaziz Alkhalaf|Mohamed Bedaiwi|Mohammed A. Omair|Sultan M. Al-Mogairen|H. Al-Arfaj|Abdurhman S. Al-Arfaj
Impact of COVID?19 outbreak on rheumatic patients’ perceptions and behaviors: A cross?sectional study
King Saud University|King Saud University|University of Maryland, Baltimore|King Saud University|King Saud University|King Saud University|King Saud University|King Saud University|King Saud University|King Saud University|King Saud University|King Saud University
abstract aim dynamics coronavirus disease 2019 covid19 pandemic become special concern rheumatology community rheumatic patients required engage effective health management behavior often influenced intrinsic extrinsic factors crosssectional study aims examine patients experiences current pandemic implication health perception behavior method patientcentered electronic survey used randomly sampling rheumatic patients saudi arabia march april 2020 questions included patients sociodemographics diseases medications covid19 knowledge source information fear level disease activity perception health care utilization medication accessibility therapeutic compliance measured using modified version medication adherence reporting scale correlation regression coefficients used evaluate associations among aforementioned variables results total 637 respondents included majority rheumatoid arthritis patients 427 patients knowledge covid19 correlated social media use p 012 fear covid19 infection correlated healthcare facility followup visits p 024 fear disease deterioration contracting infection correlated patients levels knowledge p 035 types fear correlate patients perceptions disease activity however patients perceptions worsened disease activity correlated unplanned healthcare visits p lt 001 medication nonadherence difficulty accessing medication p 010 006 respectively conclusion covid19 pandemic surrounding public health measures could affect rheumatic patients health management might contribute disease flareup subsequently taxing healthcare systems even