3.1.3 Changes in Treatment Compliance and Hospital Visits
The pandemic has repelled patients from attending many healthcare
settings, especially visits for routine or minor
care.34 Patients also delayed admissions to hospitals
even for major incidents, such as seizures and diabetic ketoacidosis,
risking the development of worse outcomes than those of
COVID-19.35 Hospital visits were further reduced by
policies for avoidance of physical appointments and encouragement of
remote consultations when appropriate.36 On the other
hand, the pandemic may have increased chronic respiratory patients’
concerns for keeping their disease under control, thus increasing their
compliance to treatment. In this context, a study assessed the
compliance of 297 asthmatic children using parental questionnaires, and
demonstrated a relative increase in compliance to spacer and medication
use in 65% of the children during the pandemic.37Similarly, another report in 1054 asthmatic children from different
areas of the world showed a general improvement in treatment compliance
during the pandemic.36