P047 Mortality in patients with rheumatic disease over a three year period encompassing the COVID-19 pandemic: clinically extremely vulnerable status and short form 12 scores are predictive
Authors: Cox Natasha , Bateman James 
Published: April 2024

Background/Aims

In the United Kingdom (UK), to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social distancing measures were implemented to varying degrees between March-2020 and December-2021. UK policy deemed patients with rheumatic disease (RD) at higher risk from COVID-19 and many were categorised as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ (CEV), these patients were required to follow more stringent social distancing measures. Social isolation and loneliness are implicated as predictors of mortality; the impact of these strict social distancing measures in patients with RD on mortality is unknown. In addition, Health related quality of life (HRQoL) measures provide useful insights into a patients physical and mental wellbeing. HRQoL is recognised as an important measure of health outcomes and there is limited evidence suggesting HRQoL measures such as the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and the Short Form-36 questionnaire (SF-36) are associated with mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The predictive value of the SF-12 (a validated, shortened version of the SF-36) in RD patient’s mortality is unknown. In this UK-based, observational cohort study we evaluated the impact of stricter social distancing measures during the pandemic on 3-year mortality and assessed the utility of the SF-12 in predicting mortality in patients with RD.

Methods

We distributed a web-based survey via a linked mobile-phone SMS message, to all rheumatology patients, with a validated mobile number, under follow-up at the Royal Wolverhampton Trust, April-2020. We collected demographics, CEV status, and Short Form-12 mental (MCS) and physical health component scores (PCS) for health-related quality of life. Mortality was audited July-2023. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26 and R.

Results

There were 7,911 active follow up patients with linked mobile numbers. Survey responses were received from 1605 (20%); responders were female (69%), white (94%), CEV (47%), had a mean age of 61years, and most had autoimmune rheumatic disease (78%). Of the responders, 58 (4%) had died by July-2023 - compared to the alive group these patients had significantly worse MCS (p &lt; 0.001) and PCS (p = 0.004) at baseline; significantly more in those that had died were CEV (p &lt; 0.001), and older (p &lt; 0.001), while gender, ethnicity, and diagnosis did not differ.

Conclusion

These data demonstrate in a large cohort of patients with RD over a 3-year period those patients considered CEV, advised to follow more stringent social isolation measures were at significantly greater risk of death. Further, baseline SF-12 scores for both mental and physical components were lower in patients that died over a 3-year period. These data potentially highlight the utility of the SF-12 and assessing social isolation and loneliness in patients with RD to predict mortality. In addition, our methods demonstrate the merits of communicating with patients through SMS-messaging and can be used in delivering important health-care communications in future.

Disclosure

N. Cox: None. J. Bateman: None.