P.0494 Which rheumatic patients are more vulnerable to the stressful effects of COVID-19?

ABSTRACT

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition that may develop after exposure to a traumatic event [1];COVID-19 pandemic could be defined as a traumatic experience since it has resulted in either direct (e.g. the fear of contagion and the risk of death) or indirect aftermaths (e.g. psychological distress, depression and anxiety) [2]. Besides, it has been shown that PTSD, promoting inflammatory responses, might worsen the prognosis of patients affected by illnesses characterized by systemic inflammation such as rheumatic diseases (RDs) [3]. Objective: The aim of the present study is to verify the presence of PTSD symptoms and related factors in patients suffering from RDs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from an anonymous online survey about mental health of people with RDs. Participants were enrolled through several RD patients’ associations between May and September 2020, after the first pandemic wave in Italy. They filled out a questionnaire including demographic and clinical information, mental health issues and the 22-items of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). The total score ranges from 0 to 88;a score ≥ 33 defines patients at risk of PTSD. Descriptive analyses were performed on the total sample one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to compare IES-R scores between groups defined by qualitative variables;Pearson's correlations were performed to study the relation between rating scale scores and quantitative variables. Finally, multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify independent variables associated with IES-R scores. Results: 507 patients with RDs participated in the survey 419 females (82.6%) and 88 males (17.4%) with a mean age of 53.06 years and mean disease duration of 13.74 years. As regard IES-R scores, total sample mean (SD) was 29.7 ± 17.5;of note, 209 participants (41.2%) had scores ≥33. IES-R scores resulted to be significantly different according to gender (F=14.75, P<0.01), residence in Lombardy (F=8.22, P<0.01), diagnostic group (F=4.17, P= 0.02), prescription of psychiatric therapy before COVID-19 (F=17.87, P<0.01), type of pre-existing psychiatric symptoms (F=7.59, P<0.01), use of psychiatric compounds before COVID-19 (F=27.17, P<0.01), type of psychiatric compounds before COVID-19 (F=14.58, P<0.01), current prescription of psychiatric compounds (F=29.30, P<0.01), type of ongoing psychiatric compounds (F=13.81, P<0.01), anxiety source (F=20.81, P<0.01), and the presence of overweight/obesity (F=7.60, P< 0.01), bowel diseases (F=8.00, P<0.01), depressive symptoms (F=5.74, P=0.02), anxiety symptoms (F=26.81, P<0.01). Independent variables associated with higher IES-R scores were female gender (β=0.14, P <0.01), living outside Lombardy (β=-0.10, P=0.02), intestinal diseases (β=0.10, P=0.03), anxiety (β=0.19, P <0.01) and health related concerns (β=0.13, P <0.01). Conclusion: These findings point out high rate of severe self-reported distress among Italian RD patients in response to the pandemic. Given that psychological and emotional stressors strictly affect disease severity leading to poorer quality of life, our study sustains the necessity to implement support measures for fragile patients during traumatic events. No conflict of interest