Emotions and Opinions of Adult Patients with Haemophilia During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Pandemic Caused by SARS-CoV-2: A Monocentric Survey

Abstract

Mariasanta Napolitano, 1 Maria Francesca Mansueto, 1 Davide Sirocchi, 1 Angelo Davide Contrino, 1 Simona Raso, 2 Sergio Siragusa 1 1Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (PROMISE), Haematology Unit, Reference Regional Centre for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; 2Division of Haematology, Department of Surgical, Oncological and Stomatological Disciplines (Di.Chir.On.S.), AOUP Paolo Giaccone, Palermo, ItalyCorrespondence: Mariasanta NapolitanoDepartment of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (PROMISE), Haematology Unit, Reference Regional Centre for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, via del Vespro 127, Palermo 90127, ItalyTel [phone]Fax [phone]Email [email protected] The ongoing pandemic calls on doctors to cope with new specific patient needs, associated with the isolation and need to avoid face to face contacts if not strictly necessary. Following some calls by haemophilia patients followed by our Reference Regional Centre for questions related to regular replacement therapy with factor VIII and IX concentrate supply and availability, and also for reassurance related to safety of plasma-derived concentrates from Coronavirus potential infections, we have sent by email or mobile apps a short survey to our patients with severe haemophilia and asked them to reply within 24 hours. The  survey was elaborated by our psychologist with the following questions: How much are you concerned about the regular replacement treatment supply and safe drug production process during the COVID-19 pandemic? The only available option to avoid further widespread infection is isolation, do you feel the weight of this? Do you agree that anxiety and worry do not help in the management of this emergency? How important for you are the support and availability of the haemophilia centre personnel? For each of the above reported questions, according to a Likert scale, patients may select one of the following four options: not at all, a little, well enough, very much. Further, the following open question was reported: How are you personally coping with the COVID-19 pandemic? The survey was sent to 30 patients, 23 of them replied within 24 hours. We report here the survey results.