Telemedicine in the Management of Patients with Rheumatic Disease during COVID-19 Pandemic: Incidence of Psychiatric Disorders and Fibromyalgia in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis

Rosario Foti, Giorgio Amato, Ylenia Dal Bosco, Antonio Longo, Caterina Gagliano, Raffaele Falsaperla, Roberta Foti, Sergio Speranza, Francesco De Lucia and Elisa Visalli
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Rosario Foti: Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Giorgio Amato: Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Ylenia Dal Bosco: Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Antonio Longo: Eye Clinic, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Caterina Gagliano: Eye Clinic, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Raffaele Falsaperla: Pediatric Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Roberta Foti: Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Sergio Speranza: Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Francesco De Lucia: Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy
Elisa Visalli: Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico San Marco Hospital, 95123 Catania, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-7

Abstract: The management of patients with immuno-rheumatological diseases has profoundly changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and telemedicine has played an important role in the disease follow-up. In addition to monitoring disease activity and any adverse events, especially infectious events, assessing the psychological situation of the patient can be fundamental. Furthermore, COVID-19 has a serious impact on mental health and, since the beginning of the pandemic, a significantly higher incidence of anxiety disorders and depressive symptoms especially in younger people was observed. In this study, we evaluated the incidence of depressive disorders, anxiety, and fibromyalgia (FM) in our patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis during the lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we validate the use of telemedicine in the clinical management of these patients. Mental and physical stress during the COVID-19 pandemic can greatly worsen FM symptoms and intensify patients’ suffering without a clinical flare of the inflammatory disease for patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis. Telemedicine has allowed us to identify patients who needed a face-to-face approach for therapeutic reevaluation even if not related to a flare of the inflammatory disease. Even if our data does not allow us to draw definitive conclusions regarding the effectiveness of telemedicine as greater than or equal to the standard face-to-face approach, we continue to work by modifying our approach to try to ensure the necessary care in compliance with safety and, optimistically, this tool will become an important part of rheumatic disease management.

Keywords: COVID 19; immune-rheumatic diseases; rheumatoid arthritis; psoriatic arthritis telemedicine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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