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Exploring the longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental health of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a cross-sectional survey

Muller; Hider; Paskins; Roddy

Exploring the longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental health of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a cross-sectional survey Thumbnail


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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the longer term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-reported physical and mental health of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRDs). METHODS: Two thousand twenty-four patients with IRDs were randomly selected from electronic health records. Survey invitations were sent (August 2021 coinciding with relaxation of UK COVID-19 restrictions) using SMS and postal approaches. Self-reported data included demographics, shielding status and physical (MSK-HQ) and mental health (PHQ8 and GAD7). RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-nine people completed the survey (mean (SD) age 64.5 (13.1) years, 384 (60%) female). Moderate/severe impact of the pandemic on physical and mental health was reported by 250 (41%) and 241 (39%) respectively. One hundred seventy-two (29%) reported moderate/severe depression (PHQ8?=?10) and 135 (22%) moderate/severe anxiety (GAD7?=?10). Females reported greater impacts of the pandemic on physical health (44% vs 34%), mental health (44% vs 34%), arthritis symptoms (49% vs 36%) and lifestyle factors (weight gain and reduced exercise and physical activity) than males. The physical and mental impacts were less in people with RA compared with other IRDs. Physical health impacts did not differ between age groups, but younger patients reported greater impacts on mental health. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the physical and mental health of people with IRDs. These effects were greatest in females. Recovery needs to address the negative impact of the pandemic on lifestyle factors to minimise the long-term impacts for people with IRDs. Key Points • The pandemic had a significant impact on long term physical and mental health in almost 40% of people with IRDs. • The impact of the pandemic was greater in women for physical health, mental health and arthritis symptoms. • Many people reported negative pandemic impacts on lifestyle factors including weight and physical activity.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 24, 2023
Online Publication Date Mar 7, 2023
Publication Date Mar 7, 2023
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Clinical Rheumatology
Print ISSN 0770-3198
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 42
Pages 1903-1909
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-023-06565-0
Publisher URL https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10067-023-06565-0
PMID 36882533
Additional Information This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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