ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating not only medically but also socially and economically. Selangor, an urbanised state in Malaysia, has been severely affected by COVID19. There is concern that patients with rheumatic diseases (RD) may have higher risk of infection, with increased mortality1. Objectives: To investigate patients' characteristics which are associated with 'feeling stressed' among patients with RD during the second wave of COVID19 infection in Selangor. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted over 3 weeks during the second wave of COVID19 infection in Malaysia. Patients with RD, scheduled for rheumatology clinic appointment in a rheumatology referral centre were invited to participate in this study. Personal and clinical data were collected by phone interview and from patients' medical records respectively. Patients were asked to grade their disease activity by giving a score from 0 (not active) to 10 (active). All patients were asked 'are you feeling stressed' and the answer was recorded as yes or no. Reasons explored for a yes answer, included financial, social disruption, physical illness and future uncertainties. Categorical and continuous data were analysed using chi-squared test and student t-test, respectively. A p-value of <0.05 is considered statistically significant. Results: Three hundred and sixty-one patients with various RD participated in this study. The mean age of these was 48.2 years (range between 16-80 years). More than half (54.3%) were Malay and other ethnicities were Chinese (25.5%), Indian (18.2%) and others (2%). A quarter of patients (24.7%) were not working (unemployed, retired and students) and a third of patients (32.1%) had unpaid work (mainly housewife). The other patients' characteristics are shown in Table 1. Eighty-three (23%) admitted to 'feeling stressed' and the stressors identified were physical illness in 34 (40.9%), social disruption in 23 (27.7%), financial problems in 23 (27.7%) and future uncertainties in 19 (22.9%). Patients' characteristics that were significantly different between patients who were 'feeling stressed' and not 'feeling stressed' were age, employment status and perceived disease activity (Table 1). Conclusion: The COVID19 pandemic has caused mental distress in a significant number of RD patients and associations were found with older age, having paid work and perceived disease activity. Issues that may influence patients' responses, including access to rheumatology care, medication and fear of getting infection were not explored in this study.