Patient Perspectives in the Era of Remote Medical Visits During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic - Insights From Outpatient Care of Cardiovascular Disease

Hiroki Kitakata; Yoshinori Katsumata; Shun Kohsaka; Otoya Sekine; Takashi Kohno; Motoaki Sano; Keiichi Fukuda

doi:10.1253/circrep.CR-21-0039

Patient Perspectives in the Era of Remote Medical Visits During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic - Insights From Outpatient Care of Cardiovascular Disease

Circ Rep. 2021 Apr 28;3(5):300-303. doi: 10.1253/circrep.CR-21-0039.

Authors

Hiroki Kitakata¹, Yoshinori Katsumata², Shun Kohsaka¹, Otoya Sekine¹, Takashi Kohno³, Motoaki Sano¹, Keiichi Fukuda¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, Keio University School of Medicine Tokyo Japan.
² Institute for Integrated Sports Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine Tokyo Japan.
³ Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine Tokyo Japan.

Abstract

Background: Patient perspectives in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are significantly associated with clinical outcomes. Methods and Results: Among 100 patients who responded to a telephone survey in a university hospital setting in Tokyo during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, 20% reported depressive symptoms and 33% were hesitant to contact medical staff in the event of CVD exacerbation. Interestingly, the frequency of depressive symptoms was maintained even after a decline in the number of newly COVID-19-infected patients. Conclusions: Our telemedicine practices revealed the magnitude of our patients' mental health conditions and their hesitation to contact medical facilities in the event of CVD exacerbation.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Coronavirus disease (COVID-19); Telemedicine.