Managing noncommunicable diseases during the covid-19 pandemic in brazil: Findings from the pampa cohort

Abstract

The objective was to identify the impact of social distance in the management of noncom-municable diseases (NCD) in the adult population from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. This is an ambispective, population-based cohort study. Descriptive analysis and Poisson regression models were used and the results were reported as prevalence ratio and 95% confidence intervals. From a total of 1,288 participants, 43.1% needed medical care and 28.5% reported impaired management of NCDs during social dis-tance. Female sex, age between 18 and 30 years old, living in the Serra region (central region of the state), people with depression and multimor-bidity were more likely to have impaired management of NCDs. Being physically active reduced the probability of having impaired management of NCD by 15%. Reduced monthly income was associated with the difficulty in accessing prescrip-tion medicine and avoidance of seeking in-person medical assistance. Depression was associated with difficulties in accessing medications, while avoidance of seeking in-person medical assistance was more likely for people with multimorbidity, arthritis/arthrosis/fibromyalgia, heart disease, and high cholesterol.