OBJECTIVES : Patients with chronic medical conditions (CMC) require regular access to healthcare professionals and have to take long-term treatments. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may affect their clinical outcomes. The present study aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on adult patients with CMC living in Europe.

METHODS : This observational, cross-sectional study was conducted online on the Carenity platform from March 19th, 2020 to May 3rd, 2020. It included adult patients from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, living with any CMC.

RESULTS : 7,034 CMC patients were included in the study, 76% woman, with a mean age of 52 years old, and most frequently affected by type 2 diabetes (18%), asthma (17%), hypertension (11%) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (10%). 88% of patients were taking a long-term treatment for their condition. 10% of these found it difficult to find their treatment at the pharmacy, and 9% stopped taking some of theirs. Finding treatment was more difficult in the UK and Germany than in the other studied European countries (16% reported difficulties vs. less than 8%). Medical consultations were strongly impacted: 26% of patients had difficulty in finding an available doctor, and 42% consulted their doctor less frequently. Long-planned medical consultations or procedures were canceled or rescheduled for 48% of patients. More Spanish patients had medical consultations rescheduled compared to other European patients (62% vs. less than 46% in the other countries). Patients also reported lacking information, mainly regarding disease-specific risks and precautions they could have taken, hence only 40% were satisfied with the information they had received.

CONCLUSIONS : COVID-related changes in CMC patients’ behavior may have potential health consequences. These changes take slightly different shape in the 5 countries studied. Studying these differences may help prevent at-risk CMC patients from being the collateral victims of the pandemic.