Treatment adherence and disease status among children with rheumatological diseases during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study from a tertiary care center

Sabarinath Mahadevan
Balakrishnan Navaneethan
G S Nikhila
S Sreenath
M Mahabaleshwar
S Vishnupriya
T N Tamilselvam
N Ponnien Selvan

Open link

Publication date

January 2021

DOI

10.4103/injr.injr_267_20

Publisher

Medknow

Journal

Indian Journal of Rheumatology

Abstract

Introduction: There is a reallocation of health-care services across the world in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in the disruption of routine care to children with chronic rheumatological diseases. We studied the treatment adherence and disease status of these children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We did a cross-sectional observational study of children (<16 years) with rheumatological diseases. Parents of seventy consecutive children with rheumatological diseases were interviewed through the telephone to assess the treatment adherence and disease status from April 2020 to July 2020. Results: In our study cohort, 44.3' (n = 31) had juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), 52.9' (n = 37) had childhood lupus childhood-...