Why did Patients Admit to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Outpatient Clinic Despite the Risk of COVID-19?
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics
of patients who applied to physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R)
outpatient clinics of two pandemic hospitals despite the risk of
COVID-19 infection. Methods: Patients who were admitted to PM&R
outpatient clinics of two pandemic hospitals in April and May 2020 were
retrospectively scanned from hospital records. Age, number of
admissions, the reason of admission, diagnosis and the prescribed
medications were recorded. The descriptive statistical methods were
employed. For the comparison of means student-t test was used. Results:
A total of 1078 patients (female 606, male 472) admitted to two tertiary
referral hospitals’ PM&R outpatient clinics. The ages of patients
ranged from 0 to 88 years with a mean age of 45.4±14.9 years. The most
common reasons for admission were acute peripheral joint pain (290),
follow-up and prescription (244) and acute low back pain (140),
respectively. The most commonly affected joint was the shoulder and
followed by the knee. Most frequent causes for follow-up and
prescription were fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, and pregabalin and
duloxetine were mostly prescribed medications for these patients.
Conclusion: Acute pain may be considered as the most important condition
for admission of patients to PM&R outpatient clinics. Regardless of its
source, pain has a negative impact on patients’ lives and causes
hospital admissions despite the risk of infection. This effect is more
prominent in patients with fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain.