P091 Regularity of check-ups at the cystic fibrosis centre in the time of COVID-19 pandemic

Todorić, I.; Bambir, I.; Markelić, I.; Omerza, L.; Milinković, T.; Odobašić Palković, T.; Džubur, F.; Dugac, A. Vukić; Tješić-Drinković, D.

Objectives: At our Cystic Fibrosis Centre (CF Centre) for children and adults it is the policy to see patients at least quarterly/year and have at least 4 respiratory samples cultured. We analysed the adherence to this regime in pandemic and regular circumstances. Methods: We compared the number of check-up visits, hospitalisations and respiratory samples taken in the pre-pandemic 2019 and the pandemic year 2020. Descriptive statistics and t-test (paired two sample for means) were used. Results: The sample consists of 93 patients (40 males, 52 adults), age range 2–36 yrs, median age in 2020: 19,5 yrs. Our goal of at least 4 visits/yr was not achieved for 29/93 patients in 2019. vs. 43/93 in the pandemic year. Although some patients visited the CF Centre more frequently in the pandemic year (15/93), most of them came less often. From a total of 93 patients seen in 2019, 12 did not have a check-up in 2020. Altogether, during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020. year we noticed a convincing, statistically significant trend in declining routine check-ups, as well as hospital admissions among cystic fibrosis patients in relation to pre-pandemic 2019 year (M = 5,20 ± 3,19 vs. M = 3,87 ± 2,88;t = 4,77, p < 0.001). This phenomenon, of course, entails a reduced, also statistically significant, number of respiratory cultures performed in pandemic 2020 year (M = 4,88 ± 4,22 vs. M = 3,34 ± 3,20;t = 5,29, p < 0.001). Conclusion: We definitely observed a negative trend in follow-ups of CF patients in the pandemic year. In our case it could also be partially caused by two serious earthquakes in the Zagreb area. Avoiding hospital arrivals and dropping out of usual follow-up practice due to fear of COVID-19 contagion may be responsible for more frequent CF exacerbations and poorer outcome for our patients in the future. Whether the observed lower compliance rate during the pandemic 2020 year result in more significant threat to our patients than COVID-19 itself remains to be seen.