Results
We contacted 120 patients aged 1-30 years by telephone from March 05 to
May 15, 2020. Before and after the quarantine period, the Mean (StDev)
time between the two onsite visits in the clinic was
4.08 (1.53) months, so we decided
to have at least two telephone visits during the quarantine period. The
baseline characteristics of the study population are shown in Table 1.
The mean FEV1% increased significantly over the quarantine period
(mean, 95% Confidence Interval ΔFEV1 (3.19; 0.36- 6.02), p= 0.028;
while the mean weight increased significantly; mean, 95% Confidence
Interval ΔWeight, kg (1.0; 0.61-1.4); p<0.0001. These changes
were significantly greater among the younger age groups
(R2= 0.3030; p=0.014).
Several CF complications were reported over the lockdown period, Table
2. Thirty-eight out of 120 patients (28.33%) were identified to have a
pulmonary exacerbation over the quarantine period, which was treated
either with oral antibiotics (89.5%) or with hospitalization and use of
IV antibiotics (3%). Moreover, two patients were diagnosed and
hospitalized because of DIOS; one was complicated with pneumothorax, two
reported significant weight loss due to new onset of pancreatic
insufficiency, confirmed by abnormal faecal elastase, one patient
complicated with haemoptysis, and one patient with new onset of CFRD.
Before the lockdown,79.5% of the patients reported performing
physiotherapy daily, 8.2% reported performing physiotherapy 2-4 times
per week, and 12.3% reported performing no physiotherapy at all. Most
of the CF patients did not change the frequency of their daily
physiotherapy practice during the COVID19 pandemic (Table 3). Moreover,
before the pandemic, 49.2% of the CF patients performed extra assisted
airway clearance; a physiotherapist visited their home once a week
through a home care program. During the COVID19 pandemic period, only
27.1% of them continued this program.
Concerning physical exercise, before the COVID-19 pandemic, 97 (81%) of
the CF patients were reported performing regular exercise weekly; 21.6%
of them followed a combined aerobic and anaerobic exercise in a gym,
16.6% participated in outskirt team sports, like basketball or football
(Table 4). During the pandemic, most patients changed the type (72% of
the patients) and the frequency of exercise, with 71% of the patients
performing less exercise than before.