Programa de Pós-graduação em Patologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil.
Programa de Pós-graduação em Desenvolvimento e Inovação Tecnológica de Medicamentos, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil.
Arch Endocrinol Metab. 2022 Nov 17;66(6):863-867. doi: 10.20945/2359-3997000000491. Epub 2022 Jun 23.
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted health care worldwide. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the first COVID-19 wave on the treatment of our patients with acromegaly.
A standard questionnaire was systematically applied to all patients and included questions on general health status, whether all laboratory workup had been done, common signs and symptoms of acromegaly, treatment adherence, and previous COVID-19 symptoms and diagnosis.
We attempted to contact 136 patients with acromegaly at regular follow-up at our institution and contacted 101 of them successfully. In all, 37% of the patients reported symptoms of acromegaly, which was more common among women. A total of 27 patients were lost to follow-up (including 19 who interrupted treatment during the pandemic) mainly for fear of becoming infected by the SARS-CoV-2. Of these, 24 resumed follow-up after our contact.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted the follow-up of patients with acromegaly. Telemedicine can be an important tool to maintain regular treatment in the current or future pandemics.
COVID-19 大流行已对全球医疗保健造成严重干扰。我们旨在评估第一波 COVID-19 对我们治疗肢端肥大症患者的影响。
系统地向所有患者发放了一份标准问卷，其中包括有关一般健康状况、所有实验室检查是否已完成、肢端肥大症的常见体征和症状、治疗依从性以及先前 COVID-19 症状和诊断的问题。
我们试图联系在我们机构定期随访的 136 名肢端肥大症患者，并成功联系到其中的 101 名。总共有 37%的患者报告了肢端肥大症的症状，女性更为常见。共有 27 名患者失访（包括 19 名在大流行期间中断治疗的患者），主要是担心感染 SARS-CoV-2。其中，24 名在我们联系后恢复了随访。
当前的 COVID-19 大流行对肢端肥大症患者的随访产生了强烈影响。远程医疗可能是在当前或未来大流行中维持常规治疗的重要工具。
