ABSTRACT
Objective: To analyse whether the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) resulted in differences in the characteristics of hospital admissions for a respiratory infection in adults with bronchiectasis compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. Method(s): An observational, retrospective study enrolling all adults admitted to the hospital between Jan 2009 and Dec 2020 for a respiratory infection with a computed-tomography-confirmed bronchiectasis. Admissions for COVID19 were excluded. Sociodemographic data, clinical data and admission characteristics were compared between prepandemic (2019) and pandemic (2020) period. Result(s): In 2019, 35 patients were admitted with a mean age of 77y (11), classified the 60% of them as severe according to the Bronchiectasis Severity Index (BSI). Three of these patients had to be readmitted in the same year. During this period, the proportion of admissions tested for viral infection was 28% and for bacterial infection was 72% of hospitalizations. A total of 25 patients were admitted in 2020, with a mean age of 74y (12), being the 76% severe. Readmissions in the same period were observed in four of these patients. Of the admissions, 57% were tested for viral infection and 73% for bacterial infection. The only difference observed for admission characteristics between both periods was the number of test for virus detection (11 (28%) in 2019 vs. 19 (57%) in 2020;p=0.02) (table 1). Conclusion(s): The number of viral infection test seems to increase during the pandemic period in comparison with pre-pandemic period during admissions for an exacerbation in adult patients with bronchiectasis.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of COVID-19 has posed a great challenge for the healthcare system which has been later aggravated by the need of managing clinical manifestations and potential sequelae in COVID-19 survivors. In this context, respiratory Physiotherapy emerges as a cornerstone in the interdisciplinary management warranted in this population. Given that the implementation and resources available for the interdisciplinary therapeutic interventions in Spain is scarce, it is essential to perform a comprehensive, exhaustive and personalised assessment. This will allow us to establish more accurate selection criteria in order to optimise the use of existing human and material resources. To this end, we propose here a decision-making algorithm for clinical practice to assess the clinical manifestations in people recovered from COVID-19 based on well-established, validated tests and assessment tools. This algorithm can be used at any clinical practice environment (primary care/community or hospital-based), combined with a patient-centered model and the use of community and e-Health resources and its application to improve the Physiotherapy care of these patients in the COVID-19 era. © 2021 Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica (SEPAR)