Concerns, Healthcare Use, and Treatment Interruptions in Patients With Common Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By The ArthritisPower TeamJune 10, 2022July 15th, 2022COVID-19

This study explores concerns and behaviors of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a survey conducted within the ArthritisPower registry, it was found that patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease frequently avoided office visits, laboratory testing and experienced DMARD interruptions that were not recommended by a physician. Concerns and behaviors were compared among patients with different conditions, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) use, geographic measures of urban status, income, education, and COVID-19 activity.

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PatientSpot registry infrastructure was funded through a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Award (PCORI Contract Number PPRN-1306-04811). PatientSpot (formerly known as Arthritis Power) was jointly developed by the nonprofit Global Healthy Living Foundation (GHLF), its associated CreakyJoints arthritis patient community, and rheumatology researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). We reserve the right to change and add sponsors and partner organizations and we also reserve the right to change placement of text on the page. Created by CreakyJoints® patient community in collaboration with patient advocates at Global Healthy Living Foundation (GHLF) and researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Arthritis Power (now PatientSpot)’s past participation in PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, was supported through multiyear, multimillion-dollar Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute funding awards [PPRN-1306-04811]. Global Healthy Living Foundation (GHLF), the parent organization of PatientSpot, receives grants, sponsorships and contracts from pharmaceutical manufacturers and private foundations. A full list of GHLF funders is publicly available here: https://www.ghlf.org/our-partners.