AI Article Synopsis

  • - COVID-19 lockdowns severely impacted daily life and health, particularly for older adults and those with disabilities like Parkinson's disease (PD), leading to increased fears and food supply issues among the most vulnerable groups.
  • - A web-based survey revealed that non-self-sufficient individuals, either cared for by family or needing professional help, faced greater challenges with daily activities, while access to medications was generally less problematic.
  • - The study concluded that lockdown restrictions disproportionately affected the most fragile patients, emphasizing the need for healthcare providers to reconsider the balance between risk and accessibility in future health policy decisions.

Article Abstract

Objectives: COVID-19 lockdowns were introduced to control the pandemic, however, they resulted in a global disruption of daily life and of individual and global health. Reduced accessibility of health services, unavailability of food and drugs, and mental health challenges had a huge impact on older people and on people living with disabling conditions such as Parkinson's disease (PD). We assessed whether and to what extent the more disabled and vulnerable people with Parkinson's (PwP) were affected by lockdowns.

Method: We analysed responses collected through a web-based survey of PwP according to their self-sufficiency [self-sufficient (SS); nearly self-sufficient (nSS); non-self-sufficient, cared for by family (NSS/F); non-self-sufficient, needs professional care (NSS/PC)].

Results: Fears due to COVID-19 and difficulties with food supply were highest in NSS/F PwP. Difficulties with the supply of Parkinson's medication or other drugs were apparently not an issue, while problems accessing primary care physicians and neurologists were similar across all patient groups. On the contrary, difficulties with daily and motor activities were higher in NSS/F and NSS/PC PwP. PwP symptoms worsened in all groups, with NSS/F and NSS/PC participants experiencing the worst deterioration. Notably, the deterioration of PwP symptoms was specifically related to changes in daily and motor activities, with participants who reported less engagement in daily and motor activities experiencing the worst deterioration.

Conclusion: Findings strongly support the need for decision-makers and healthcare providers to carefully re-evaluate the risk-benefit ratio of limiting healthcare accessibility for PwP, since evidence shows that lockdown measures primarily impact the groups who are most fragile and vulnerable.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2024.2388770DOI Listing

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