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Home > Telemedicine for Delivery of Care in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration During COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from Southern Italy.

TitleTelemedicine for Delivery of Care in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration During COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from Southern Italy.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2020
AuthorsCapozzo, R, Zoccolella, S, Frisullo, MElisa, Barone, R, Dell'Abate, MTeresa, Barulli, MRosaria, Musio, M, Accogli, M, Logroscino, G
JournalJ Alzheimers Dis
Volume76
Issue2
Pagination481-489
Date Published2020
ISSN1875-8908
KeywordsAged, Aged, 80 and over, Behavior, Coronavirus Infections, COVID-19, Delivery of Health Care, Disease Progression, Female, Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration, Humans, Italy, Language, Male, Mental Status and Dementia Tests, Middle Aged, Pandemics, Pneumonia, Viral, Quality of Life, Quarantine, Surveys and Questionnaires, Telemedicine, Triage
Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is changing clinical practice in neurology, after the governments decided the introduction of social distancing and interruption of medical non-emergency services in many countries. Teleneurology is an effective tool for the remote evaluation of patients but its adoption for frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTD) is in a preliminary stage.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated multidisciplinary assessment of patients with FTD using telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: All patients received a diagnosis of FTD during 2018-2019 according to international criteria. A structured questionnaire and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR)-FTD were used by the neurologist with patients and/or caregivers. Index symptoms of COVID-19 infection were searched.

RESULTS: Twenty-eight clinical interviews were completed with caregivers and four with both patients/caregivers. Most patients and caregivers were satisfied with the neurological interview and expressed their willingness to continue to be included in remote evaluation programs (90%). Fifty percent of patients experienced significant worsening of clinical picture and quality of life since the start of social distancing. The CDR-FTD scale revealed a significant worsening of behavior (pā€Š=ā€Š0.01) and language functions (pā€Š=ā€Š0.009), compared to the last in-person evaluation at the center. One patient presented index symptoms of COVID-19 infection and was confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 with pharyngeal swab.

CONCLUSION: The study was conducted in Italy, one of the countries hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with interruption of all non-emergency medical services. Our study indicates that telemedicine is a valid tool to triage patients with FTD to increase practice outreach and efficiency.

DOI10.3233/JAD-200589
Alternate JournalJ Alzheimers Dis
PubMed ID32651328
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Source URL: https://www.j-alz.com/content/telemedicine-delivery-care-frontotemporal-lobar-degeneration-during-covid-19-pandemic