1. The effect of COVID-19 on utilization of chronic diseases services.
- Author
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Moradi G, Piroozi B, Khayyati F, Moradpour F, Safari H, Mohamadi Bolbanabad A, Fattahi H, Younesi F, Ebrazeh A, and Shokri A
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Male, Chronic Disease therapy, Middle Aged, Aged, Iran epidemiology, Adult, Interrupted Time Series Analysis, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 therapy, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 epidemiology, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive therapy, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive epidemiology, Asthma therapy, Asthma epidemiology, Pandemics, Patient Acceptance of Health Care statistics & numerical data, Heart Failure therapy, Heart Failure epidemiology, COVID-19 epidemiology, COVID-19 therapy, SARS-CoV-2
- Abstract
Objectives: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on utilization of chronic diseases services., Methods: Interrupted time-series design was used to examine the utilization of chronic diseases services before and during the Covid-19 pandemic among hospitals in Iran. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and chemotherapy were selected as a proxy to indicate the impact of Covid-19 on utilization of chronic diseases services. Data were collected in 24 sites from 12 months before the onset of Covid-19 (from March 2019 to February 2020) to 12 months during the Covid-19 pandemic (February 2020 to March 2021)., Results: A total of 7,039,378 services were provided, of which 51.92% were provided for women and 62.73% for >65 age group. A sudden decrease was observed in monthly utilization of services during the Covid-19 pandemic; ranging from 13.91 (95% CI = -21.73, 6.10, P = 0.001) for chemotherapy to 606.39 (95% CI = -1040.72, 172.06, P = 0.009) for heart failure services per 100 thousand population. A decrease was observed in COPD services; 15.28 services compared with the period before Covid-19. Subsequently, the monthly utilization trends of asthma, type 2 diabetes, and chemotherapy services increased significantly ( P < 0.05)., Discussion: Although chronic diseases are a factor in more severe form of Covid-19, their failure to seek diagnostic, prevention and treatment services has somewhat complicated the issue., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
- Published
- 2024
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