Pediatric neuromuscular disorders: Care considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
J Pediatr Rehabil Med
; 13(3): 405-414, 2020.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-949021
ABSTRACT
COVID-19, the respiratory and frequently systemic disease caused by the novel SARS-COV-2 virus, was first recognized in December 2019 and quickly spread to become a pandemic and world-wide public health emergency over the subsequent 3-4 months. While COVID-19 has a very low morbidity rate across approximately 80% of the population, it has a high morbidity and mortality rate in the remaining 20% of the population.1 These numbers have put a significant strain on medical systems around the world. Patients with neuromuscular diseases such as those with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), tend to be more medically fragile and have higher health care needs than the general population. Respiratory insufficiency, cardiac disease, obesity, and immunocompromised status due to chronic steroid treatments in certain patient populations with neuromuscular conditions are specific risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease. In general, the pediatric population has shown to be less severely impacted with lower infection rates and lower morbidity and mortality rates than the adult population, however, as expected, children with underlying medical conditions are at higher risk of morbidity from COVID-19 than their peers.2 Many patients with neuromuscular disease also rely heavily on caregiver support through their lifetime and thus maintaining the health of their primary caregivers is also a significant consideration in the health and well-being of the patients. This paper will address routine and emergency medical care, rehabilitation services, and other considerations for the pediatric patient with a neuromuscular condition during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
/
Neuromuscular Diseases
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Pediatr Rehabil Med
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
PRM-200768
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