AB0907-HPR UNEXPECTED DIFFERENCE IN ACCEPTANCE OF TELECONSULTATION BETWEEN PATIENTS WITH LUPUS AND RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS WHO UNDERWENT TO A DEVELOPED AND IMPLEMENTED TELEMEDICINE INNOVATIVE PROGRAM AFTER THE DECLARATION OF QUARANTINE DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN COLOMBIA
Authors: S. M. Hernández-Zambrano, R. A. Castiblanco-Montañez, J. Chavez-Chavez, D. P. Rivera-Triana, A. Aza, L. Villarreal, M. Martinez, A. Rojas-Villarraga, P. Santos-Moreno
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2021)

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has generated restrictions in the mobility of people, affecting the face-to-face care of patients with chronic diseases, including autoimmune. The health emergency has created the need to establish follow-up alternatives, giving rise to telemedicine. Objectives: To evaluate the level of attendance to teleconsultation and the face-to-face usual care in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who underwent to a developed innovative telemedicine program after the declaration of quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: The present cross-sectional descriptive study reports retrospective data collected from patients with RA and SLE from March to June, 2020;. Since the beginning of March 2020 when Covid-19 was declared in Colombia as a health emergency establishing specific standards for outpatient care, our center has made the necessary legal and technical adjustments to develop an innovative telemedicine service to prevent the epidemiological risk. To all contacted patients were offered the option of teleconsultation or face-to-face consultation; a standardized protocol was set with clinimetry measures evaluated in both groups. Continuous variables were described using mean and standard deviation, and categorical variables were described using numbers and percentages. We performed chi-square tests of independence to determine differences between teleconsulting and conventional face-to-face consultation. Results: A total of 5745 RA patients were followed-up, 5292 (92.1%) by teleconsulting and 453 (7.9%) by conventional face-to-face consultation; among the group of SLE patients, a total of 646 were assessed, of which there were 386 (60%) by teleconsultation and 260 (40%) by face-to-face consultation; this highlights an important difference in the level of acceptance of the teleconsultation between patients with RA and SLE, being much lower in patients with SLE ( p value &lt; 0.0001). Regarding gender differences, in men, there were 33 (12.7%) SLE and 89 (19.6%) RA face-to-face consultations, while in women there were 227 (87.3%) SLE and 364 (80.4%) RA in a face-to-face consultation. Regarding patients who were attended through telemedicine, 45 (11.7%) SLE and 966 (18.3%) RA were men, while 341 (88.3%) SLE and 4326 (81.7%) RA were women; that means, in the RA cohort, a greater number of men prefer the face-to-face consultation than in the SLE cohort ( p value &lt; 0.0185). 10 RA patients were diagnosed with the Covid-19 in teleconsultation; in all cases, close contact with infected relatives was verified as the probable cause. Table 1. Differences by gender in the level of teleconsultation acceptance and face-to-face assistance in patients with SLE and RA RA Patients Gender Teleconsulting (% a ) Face-to-face consultation (% a ) Male 1055 966 91,57% 89 8,43% Female 4690 4326 92,23% 364 7,77% SLE Patients Gender Teleconsulting (% a ) Face-to-face consultation (% a ) Male 78 45 57,69% 33 42,31% Female 568 341 60,03% 227 39,97% a Total percentage of patients by gender. RA: Rheumatoid arthritis; SLE: Systemic lupus erythematosus. Conclusion: Telemedicine may provide a viable option for the follow-up of patients with rheumatological diseases even beyond the pandemic. But unexpectedly, data showed an important difference in the acceptance of teleconsultation between patients with RA and SLE, being much higher in older and/or male patients with RA compared to patients with SLE; however, further studies are needed to support this conclusion. Disclosure of Interests: None declared