Impact of COVID-19 on Movement Disorders Patients in the Outpatient Setting

ABSTRACT

Objective: We sought to determine the emotional impact, stress, and burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on movement disorders patients. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused stress for the whole population, as it is the only major incidence of a widespread infectious illness that most have experienced in their lifetime. The impact of COVID-19 on patients with chronic neurodegenerative disease, including movement disorders, is largely unknown. Design/Methods: Over 4 months (May to August 2021), subjects were asked to fill out a subjective questionnaire that asked whether neurological symptoms, relationships, mental health care, finances, or healthcare delays worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Pandemic Emotional Impact Scale (PEIS). The PEIS is a validated scale designed to measure the emotional impact of a worldwide pandemic. The scale has 16 questions, each of which is scored on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the worst. The two-sample t-test was used to obtain p-values at α=0.05. Results: The cohort had a mean age of 68.0 ± 10.5 years, with 54% males and 46% females. 62% of subjects had diagnoses of PD, and 38% had either ET, ataxia, or dystonia. The average disease duration for the cohort was 8.80 ± 9.47 years. The mean PEIS score for the cohort was 32.52 ± 12.61 (range 16-80). Higher (worse) PEIS scores were significantly associated with “personal financial loss” (p=0.0077), “worsening neurological symptoms” (p=0.0006), “strained relationships” (p=0.0021), “friends/family experiencing financial loss” (p=0.0006), “friends/family hospitalized” (p=0.0178), “delay in healthcare” (p < 0.0001), and “masks impacting health” (p = 0.0064). Conclusions: Although the emotional burden of COVID-19 was reasonably low in this cohort, patients were affected by financial burden, strained relationships, delays in healthcare, and mask wearing. The mental health and emotional burden of movement disorder patients should be carefully addressed.