PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Kathrin Kahnert AU - Johanna I. Lutter AU - Tobias Welte AU - Peter Alter AU - Jürgen Behr AU - Felix Herth AU - Hans-Ulrich Kauczor AU - Sandra Söhler AU - Michael Pfeifer AU - Henrik Watz AU - Claus F. Vogelmeier AU - Robert Bals AU - Rudolf A. Jörres AU - Franziska C. Trudzinski TI - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the behaviour and health status of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – results from the German COPD cohort COSYCONET AID - 10.1183/23120541.00242-2021 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - ERJ Open Research PG - 00242-2021 4099 - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2021/06/11/23120541.00242-2021.short 4100 - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2021/06/11/23120541.00242-2021.full AB - Background Infection control measures for COVID-19 might have affected management and clinical state of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We analysed to which extent this common notion is fact-based.Methods Patients of the COSYCONET cohort were contacted with three recurring surveys (COVID1, 2, 3 at 0, 3 and 6 months). The questionnaires comprised behaviour, clinical and functional state and medical treatment. The responses to the questionnaires were compared amongst themselves and with pre-COVID information from the last visit of COSYCONET.Results Overall, 594 patients were contacted and 375 patients (58% males, FEV1 61±22%predicted) provided valid data in COVID1 and COVID2. Five patients reported infections with SARS-CoV-2. Most patients – except for patients with higher education – reported compliance with recommended protective measures, whereby compliance to hygiene, contact and access to physicians slightly improved between COVID1 and COVID2. Also, patients obtained more information from physicians than from public media. In the majority of cases, the personal physician could not be substituted by remote consultation. Over time, symptoms slightly increased and self-assessed physical capacity decreased. Results of COVID3 were similar. Women and patients with more exacerbations and dyspnoea avoided medical consultations, whereas GOLD D patients were more amenable to tele-consultation.Conclusion In well-characterised COPD patients, we observed on average slight deteriorations of clinical state during the period of COVID-19 restrictions, with high and partially increasing adherence to protective measures. The data suggest that in particular women and GOLD D patients should be actively contacted by physicians to identify deteriorations.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: Kathrin Kahnert has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Johanna Lutter has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Tobias Welte reports grants from German Ministry of Research and Education, during the conduct of the study.Conflict of interest: Peter Alter has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Jürgen Behr has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Felix JF Herth has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Kauczor reports other from Bayer, other from Siemens, during the conduct of the study; personal fees and other from Philips, personal fees from Astra Zeneca, personal fees from Merck Sharp Dohme, personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim , outside the submitted work.Conflict of interest: Dr. Sandra Söhler has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Michael Pfeifer has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Henrik Watz has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Claus F. Vogelmeier reports grants, personal fees and other from AstraZeneca, grants, personal fees and other from Boehringer Ingelheim, grants, personal fees and other from GlazoSmithKline, grants, personal fees and other from Novartis, personal fees and other from CSL Behring, personal fees and other from Chiesi, personal fees and other from Grifols, personal fees and other from Nuvaira, personal fees from Berlin Chemie, outside the submitted work.Conflict of interest: Robert Bals reports grants from BMBF during the conduct of the study; COSYCONET is supported by the German Centre for Lung Research (DZL), grant number 82DZLI05A2 (COSYCONET), the BMBF, grant number 01GI0881 and is furthermore supported by unrestricted grants from AstraZeneca GmbH, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, GlaxoSmithKline GmbH&Co. KG, Grifols Deutschland GmbH, and Novartis Deutschland GmbH. Grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca, grants and personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline, personal fees from Grifols, grants and personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from CSL Behring, grants from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Competence Network Asthma and COPD (ASCONET), grants from Sander Stiftung, grants from Schwiete Stiftung, grants from Krebshilfe, grants from Mukoviszidose eV, outside the submitted work. Leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group, paid or unpaid for the Alpha-1-Center.Conflict of interest: Rudolf A. Jörres has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Franziska Trudzinski has nothing to disclose.