Rheumatologists report delaying, discontinuing advanced treatment during COVID-19 pandemic
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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rapid adoption of telemedicine among rheumatologists and a delaying of advanced treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in Rheumatology Advances in Practice.
“We wanted to learn more about the perspective of European rheumatologists on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on management of their patients with RA, their prescribing behavior and their continuing medical education,” Pedro M. Machado, MD, of University College London, told Healio.
To investigate the impact of the pandemic on practicing rheumatologists, Machado and colleagues conducted the Adelphi RA Disease Specific Program, a point-in-time survey of rheumatologists working in real-world settings. The surveys were conducted in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom between November 2019 and November 2020. Participating physicians provided an initial and follow-up survey, which were largely conducted in August and September 2020.
The surveys included seven questions broken into four categories: patient management, prescription behavior, continuing medical education and patient concerns. All participating physicians were monetarily compensated for their time.
A total of 284 rheumatologists completed the surveys. Regarding patient management, 66.5% respondents reported using phone and telemedicine more regularly, according to the researchers. Additionally, 58.5% reported having fewer patient visits and 58.1% said they were limited physical contact. Regarding prescriptions, 67.9% of rheumatologists who reported changes in prescribing behavior stated they had switched patients to self-administered therapies, while 60.7% had not started patients on targeted synthetic DMARDs, biologic originator DMARDs or biosimilar DMARDs. Finally, of those surveyed, 57.6% believed the implemented changes would remain.
“The COVID-19 pandemic led to rheumatologists conducting more consultations online or via telephone,” Machado said. “Rheumatologists reported delaying advanced treatments, switching patients to other treatments or discontinuing advanced treatments. One key benefit has been the impact on medical education, with opportunities to learn remotely being expanded.”
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