Direct and indirect effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on Gaucher Disease patients in Spain: Time to reconsider home-based therapies?

Abstract

Objective An analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic impact in the Spanish Gaucher Disease (GD) community is presented here. Patients & methods The Spanish GD foundation (FEETEF) surveyed 113 GD patients from March 30 to April 27; all patients provided a verbal consent. Results 110 surveys were analyzed. The median age was 47 years old (y.o.), 31 patients were ≥ 60 y.o.; and 34% of patients reported comorbidities. 46% (51/110) of patients were treated by enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), 48 of them at hospitals; 45.1% (45/110) were on substrate reduction therapy (SRT) and 9% (10/110) receive no therapy. 25% (11/48) of ERT-hospital-based patients reported therapy interruptions, while SRT-patients did not report missing doses. No bone crises were reported. However, 50% (55/110) of patients reported being worried about their predisposition to a severe SARS-COV-2 infection and 29% (16/55) of them took anxiolytics or antidepressants for this. While 6 patients reported to have contact with an infected person, another two confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections were reported in splenectomyzed patients, one of them (a 79-year-old diabetic) died. Conclusions One quarter of the patients treated at hospitals reported dose interruptions. Home-based therapy may need to be considered in order to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Effects of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients With Lysosomal Storage Disorders in Israel

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Gaucher disease and SARS-CoV-2 infection: Experience from 181 patients in New York

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically evaluate SARS-CoV-2 infections in GD patients during the peak of the 2020 pandemic. Previous reports from Israel [ 22 ] and Europe [ 23 , 24 ] indicated that there were isolated reports of GD patients with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, but no confirmatory evidence of infection or determinants of infection. One third of adults with GD included in this study reported being exposed to SARS-CoV-2, however it is reassuring that the majority of them did not report any symptoms.…”

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and management of inborn errors of metabolism: A global perspective

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