Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the management of pulmonary hypertension

Zhou, Christine; Sahay, Sandeep; Shlobin, Oksana A.; Soto, Francisco J.; Mathai, Stephen C.; Melendres‐Groves, Lana; Mullin, Christopher J.; Levine, Deborah J.; Kay, Dana; Highland, Kristin B.; Bossone, Eduardo; Poms, Abby; Memon, Humna; Balasubramanian, Vijay; Farmer, Mary Jo S.; Rahaghi, Franck; Elwing, Jean M.

doi:10.1016/j.rmed.2022.107061

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The findings of our study quantifying the impact of care disruptions associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic are supported by the results of a survey related to the care of patients with PH completed by 95 healthcare professionals in the US Pulmonary Vascular Disease NetWork, with responses collected from November 2020 to February 2021. 11 During the pandemic, 84% of physicians used telemedicine for PH patient care (vs. 15% before the pandemic). The survey identified that access to PAH‐related tests was a major area of disruption (>90% of respondents) and around one‐third of respondents experienced disruptions with renewal/approval of medications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on care disruptions, outcomes, and costs in patients receiving pulmonary arterial hypertension‐specific therapy in the United States of America: An observational study

George,

Germack,

Goyal

et al. 2023

Pulm. circ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Regular expert follow‐up, risk assessment, and early therapeutic intervention minimize worsening of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). COVID‐19 lockdown measures were challenging for chronic disease management. This retrospective, longitudinal analysis used US claims data (January 12, 2016 to September 11, 2021) for patients treated with PAH‐specific medication to compare in‐person outpatient and specialist visits, telemedicine visits, and PAH‐related tests during 6‐month assessment periods pre‐ and immediately post‐COVID‐19. Hospitalizations, costs, and outcomes were compared in patients with and without care disruptions (no in‐person or telemedicine outpatient visits in immediate post‐COVID‐19 period). Patients in the immediate post‐COVID‐19 (N = 599) versus the pre‐COVID‐19 period (N = 598) had fewer in‐person outpatient visits (mean 1.27 vs. 2.12) and in‐person specialist visits (pulmonologist, 22.9% vs. 37.0% of patients; cardiologist, 27.5% vs. 33.8%); and more telemedicine visits (mean 0.45 vs. 0.02). In the immediate post‐COVID‐19 period, patients were less likely to have a PAH‐related test versus the pre‐COVID‐19 period (incidence rate ratio: 0.700; 95% confidence interval: 0.615−0.797), including electrocardiograms (41.7% vs. 54.2%) and 6‐minute walk distance tests (16.2% vs. 24.9%). In the immediate post‐COVID‐19 period, 48 patients had care disruptions and, in the following year, required more hospital days than those without care disruptions (N = 240) (median 10 vs. 5 days in total) and had higher overall hospitalization costs (median US$34,755 vs. US$20,090). Our findings support the need for minimizing care disruptions to potentially avoid incremental post‐disruption healthcare utilization and costs among patients with serious chronic diseases such as PAH.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%