Department of Osteoporosis, Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, West China-PUMC C.C. Chen Institute of Health, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Department of Medical Records, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Sci Rep. 2024 Feb 20;14(1):4230. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-54858-4.
An unexpected surge of osteoporosis outpatients occurred after COVID-19 lockdown was lifted in China. To confirm the observation and identify possible reasons driving patients care seeking behaviors post-pandemic, we compared the outpatient volumes at the osteoporosis clinic in January through May, 2019-2022 and surveyed seven osteoporosis specialists across China to validate the phenomenon before devising an online questionnaire to collect patients' characters and physical activity levels. Univariate and binary logistic regression analyses were calculated to identify predictors of post-lockdown care-seeking. We received 480 valid responses, including 397 (82.7%) patients having visited the clinic after lockdown and 83 (17.3%) having not. Four significant predictors were identified, including being female, experiencing pain, aggravating symptoms, and heightened anxiety during lockdown (P < 0.05). Both groups experienced lower physical activity levels during lockdown, which however was not a significant predictor (P = 0.317). The surge in osteoporosis outpatient visits after COVID-19 lockdown suggests vast latent demand for osteoporosis care accumulated during the pandemic. Four significant factors predict post-lockdown outpatient care-seeking, including being female, experiencing pain and aggravating symptoms, and heightened anxiety levels. Though physical activity levels decreased during lockdown, it failed to predict care-seeking. This demonstrates resilience of osteoporosis patients to resume regular care despite disruption and stress the substantial backlog of unmet healthcare needs.
在中国解除 COVID-19 封锁后，骨质疏松症门诊患者数量意外激增。为了证实这一观察结果并确定大流行后驱动患者就诊行为的可能原因，我们比较了 2019 年至 2022 年 1 月至 5 月期间骨质疏松症诊所的门诊量，并对中国的七位骨质疏松症专家进行了调查，以验证这一现象，然后设计了在线问卷以收集患者的特征和身体活动水平。使用单变量和二元逻辑回归分析来确定锁定后寻求护理的预测因素。我们收到了 480 份有效回复，其中 397 份（82.7%）患者在封锁后就诊，83 份（17.3%）患者未就诊。确定了四个显著的预测因素，包括女性、经历疼痛、症状加重和封锁期间焦虑增加（P<0.05）。两组在封锁期间的身体活动水平均较低，但这不是一个显著的预测因素（P=0.317）。COVID-19 封锁后骨质疏松症门诊就诊人数的激增表明，大流行期间积累了大量对骨质疏松症护理的潜在需求。四个显著因素预测了锁定后门诊就诊，包括女性、疼痛和症状加重以及焦虑水平升高。尽管封锁期间身体活动水平下降，但它未能预测就诊。这表明尽管受到干扰和压力，骨质疏松症患者仍有能力恢复常规护理，大量未满足的医疗需求积压。
