Nichtinanspruchnahme medizinischer Leistungen in der COVID-19-Pandemie bei Personen mit chronischen Erkrankungen

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic is also impacting the medical care for other diseases. The extent to which people with chronic diseases are affected by the suspension of medical services is investigated—differentiating between patient and provider perspectives. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted based on data from the longitudinal Hamburg City Health Study (HCHS). The study population was all HCHS participants (a sample of the population of Hamburg, 45–74 years) between April 2020 and November 2021. Utilisation of medical services was collected via the “COVID-19-module” of the HCHS. The chronic conditions included cardiovascular disease, kidney and lung disease, cancer and diabetes mellitus; analyses were descriptive and multivariate. RESULTS: Of the 2047 participants, 47.9% had at least one previous illness. Of those with pre-existing conditions, 21.4% had at least one healthcare service suspended or an appointment cancelled. In addition, 15.4% stated that they decided by themselves not to attend a doctor’s appointment. Specialist care services (43.8% of all cancellations) were cancelled more frequently than general practitioner care (16.6%). After adjustment for age, gender and education, lung disease (OR 1.80; p < 0.008) and cancer (OR 2.33; p < 0.001) were found to be independent risk factors for appointment cancellations by healthcare providers. Of cancellations by patients, 42.2% were due to their fear of an infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV‑2. DISCUSSION: Health policy and the media are faced with the challenge of dealing with fears of infection in the population in such a way that they do not lead to an avoidance of necessary care services.