P.031 Access to immunoglobulin treatment for CIDP patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: Immunoglobulin supplies are limited; we aimed to determine if the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with difficulty accessing immunoglobulin treatment for patients diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP). Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted with CIDP patients (n=16, 68.75% female, mean age 60.38 ± 11.32) recruited from three Montreal tertiary care institutions. Patients completed a questionnaire inquiring about changes in their immunoglobulin treatment during the pandemic and about their quality of life. We used weighted chi-squared statistical tests and Cramer’s V correlation ratios to measure associations with treatment change. Results: Eighteen months after the pandemic started, 25% of our population were receiving immunoglobulin treatment at a different frequency, 6.3% were receiving a different dose, 12.5% were receiving a different dose and frequency, and 6.3% were receiving a different treatment. Reasons associated with treatment change were worsening of neurological condition (18.8%; Cramer’s V=0.480; p-value=0.055), improvement of neurological condition (25%; Cramer’s V=0.577; p-value=0.021) and reduced availability of treatment (6.3%; Cramer’s V=0.258; p-value=0.302). There were no significant correlations between lower quality of life (p-value=0.323) or lower Rasch-built Overall Disability Scale score (p-value=0.574) and treatment change. Conclusions: Difficulty accessing immunoglobulin treatment was not significantly associated with treatment change for CIDP patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.