ABSTRACT
Background &Objective : Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDRTB) and depression act synergistically that magnify the burden of disease. The present study aims to understand the differences in depression scale using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) over the time during the COVID-19 pandemic which may cause mental and psychological changes in the patients with MDRTB. Method: A total of 155 treatment naive adults and adolescents MDRTB are enrolled in an ongoing cohort. Each participant completes PHQ-9 to assess depression at baseline, 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 18, 24 months of treatment and post treatment 6 and 12 months. Differences in the PHQ9 scores for visits before COVID-19, during 1st lockdown, in unlock phase and 2nd lockdown were assessed by Chi-squared test and t-test and p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 155 participants with median age of 27 years' 102 (65.8%) were females A significant difference was seen in the overall PHQ-9 scores across each time period (p<0.001). Also, significant changes were seen in overall PHQ-9 scores before COVID-19 and 1st lockdown (p<0.001), during unlock phase, 2nd lockdown (p<0.001) and without lockdown and during 1st and 2nd lockdowns (p<0.001). During 1st lockdown and unlock phase (p=0.165), there were no significant differences seen in the PHQ-9 scores. Conclusion: In this ongoing study, changes in the overall depression scale were significantly associated with COVID-19 lockdown, during unlock phase and 2nd lockdown phase. PHQ-9 screening can be useful for patients who may benefit from additional support and counselling during the treatment during COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
India has a disproportionately high burden of acute and chronic pulmonary diseases. In India, 65 million suffer from non-communicable respiratory diseases. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had worsened the situation. Patients affected with COVID-19 with a previous history of comorbidities, such as COPD and chronic lung diseases, had the worst prognosis, resulting in adverse outcomes, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and pneumonia. Immune modulation strategies have since gained a lot of traction amongst practitioners. Modulation of the immune system with Pidotimod along with standard-of–care (SOC) treatment has proven efficacious in the past two decades in patients with recurrent respiratory tract infections (RRTIs), bronchitis, COPD, and pneumonia. In this article, we have reviewed the current unmet needs in the management of COPD in India and evaluated the usage of Pidotimod in adult COPD patients based on expert panel discussion © 2021 Journal of Association of Physicians of India. All rights reserved.