EFFECT OF A MULTIDISCIPLINARY FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM ON LONG-TERM, ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY IN VETERAN SURVIVORS OF COVID-19

ABSTRACT

SESSION TITLE Medications and Pulmonary Rehabilitation in COVID-19 Posters SESSION TYPE Original Investigation Posters PRESENTED ON 10/18/2022 0130 pm - 0230 pm PURPOSE: Millions of people have survived COVID 19 infection and are living with post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC). Multi-disciplinary programs have been established to provide follow-up to these patients. Currently, there are limited data regarding the effectiveness of these programs and it is uncertain if there is a mortality benefit. Here, we explore if the enrollment of Veterans into a multi-disciplinary COVID-19 follow-up program influences long term all-cause mortality. METHODS: We designed a retrospective cohort study at the South Texas Veteran Health Care system (STVHCS) from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. Participants in the study were Veterans who survived a COVID 19 infection after 30 days and were eligible for enrollment in the STVHCS Convalescence Program (“The Program”), which conducts multi-disciplinary follow up care. Patients who died <30 days after COVID 19 diagnosis were not eligible. The primary outcome of long term all-cause mortality was defined as mortality within 31-365 days after the diagnosis of a COVID 19 infection. Demographic differences and primary outcome between the two groups (enrolled versus non-enrolled in The Program) were analyzed using Chi square for categorical variables. Continuous variables were analyzed using Student’s t-test. RESULTS: In total 2253 patients were eligible for enrollment, of which 557 were enrolled and 1696 were not enrolled. Long term all-cause mortality between the groups was 6/557 (1.07%) in the enrolled group compared to 78/1696 (4.59%) in the non-enrolled group with a p value of <0.001. There was no statistical difference between the groups based on the average Charlson comorbidity index score, 2.12 vs 2.09 respectively, with a p value = 0.85. CONCLUSIONS: Enrollment of Veterans in a COVID 19 multidisciplinary follow-up program is associated with a significant decrease in long term all-cause mortality. These differences could not be explained by inherent differences between groups. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Our study shows the potential effectiveness of COVID-19 multidisciplinary follow-up programs to reduce long term all cause mortality in survivors of COVID. In addition there may be other benefits not yet explored such as reduction in symptom burden from COVID and decreased psychosocial distress. The generalizability of this study is limited by its observational study design, the voluntary nature of enrollment in the program and lack of non veterans in the population. DISCLOSURES No relevant relationships by Ye Aung No relevant relationships by Ryan Choudhury No relevant relationships by Michael Mader No relevant relationships by Marcos Restrepo No relevant relationships by Sandra Sanchez-Reilly No relevant relationships by Monica Serra No relevant relationships by Ana Lucia Siu Chang No relevant relationships by Hanh Trinh