The use of remote care during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic a perspective of Portuguese and Spanish physicians

Jácome, C I Oliveira; Pereira, Ana Margarida; Amaral, Rita; Alves‐Correia, Magna; Almeida, Raquel; Mendes, Sandra; Fonseca, João Almeida

doi:10.23822/eurannaci.1764-1489.184

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…Similarly, the approach to mental health problems has been difficult during the pandemic due to the increased workload of health professionals [15,16], but also due to the difficulty of providing face-to-face care [9,17] as well as the economic and employment problems caused by the pandemic [12]. For the aforementioned reasons, alternative strategies of providing mental health care have included the use of technologies like telephone calls or video calls to evaluate and treat patients remotely [18][19][20][21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health and adherence to antiretroviral therapy among Mexican people living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic

Gutiérrez-Velilla¹,

Barrientos-Casarrubias²,

Schjetnan³

et al. 2023

AIDS Res Ther

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Background The mental health and medical follow-up of people living with HIV (PLWH) have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of this study were to assess anxiety, depression and substance use in Mexican PLWH during the pandemic; to explore the association of these symptoms with adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), and to compare patients with and without vulnerability factors (low socioeconomic level, previous psychological and/or psychiatric treatment). Methods We studied 1259 participants in a cross-sectional study, PLWH receiving care at the HIV clinic in Mexico City were contacted by telephone and invited to participate in the study. We included PLWH were receiving ART; answered a structured interview on sociodemographic data and adherence to ART; and completed the psychological instruments to assess depressive and anxiety symptoms and substance use risk. Data collection was performed from June 2020 to October 2021. Results 84.7% were men, 8% had inadequate ART adherence, 11% had moderate-severe symptoms of depression, and 13% had moderate-severe symptoms of anxiety. Adherence was related to psychological symptoms (p < 0.001). Vulnerable patients were more likely to be women, with low educational level and unemployed (p < 0.001). Conclusions It is important to address mental health of PLWH during the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the most vulnerable individuals. Future studies are needed to understand the relationship between mental health and ART adherence.

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