Abstract
The purpose was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on biopsychosocial health, daily activities, and quality of life among children and adults with neuromuscular diseases, and to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 infection and the impact of this in patients with neuromuscular diseases. The study was a national questionnaire survey. Responses were obtained from 811 adults (29%) and 67 parents of children (27%) with neuromuscular diseases. Many patients reported decreased health or physical functioning, and changes in access to physiotherapy or healthcare due to the pandemic. Participants generally perceived themselves or their child to be at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19, but only 15 patients had suffered from COVID-19 and experienced mild flu-like symptoms. 25.3% of adults and 46.6% of parents experienced anxiety. 20.4% of adults and 27.6% of parents experienced symptoms of depression. In general, the pandemic contributed to anxiety, a depressed mood as well as to fewer leisure activities, less social contact, isolation from work/school and a reduced quality of life, in particular for patients who perceived themselves to be at high risk of severe illness. The results demonstrate that the pandemic has had a negative impact on biopsychosocial health and quality of life of patients with neuromuscular diseases.
Highlights
During early spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused authorities in most of the world including Denmark to implement lockdown [1]
Our results demonstrate novel knowledge on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on biopsychosocial health and quality of life (QoL) of patients with neuromuscular diseases (NMD)
The results show that physical health was affected with less access to hospital visits and treatment and especially physiotherapy
Summary
During early spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused authorities in most of the world including Denmark to implement lockdown [1]. To prevent the virus from spreading and to protect especially elderly and vulnerable people, large areas of the public sector (including schools and universities), private institutions and the corporate sector were closed, large assemblies were banned, and citizens were encouraged to stay at home and avoid unnecessary gatherings [2,3,4].
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