Perception of COVID-19 Pandemic Among IBD Clinicians and IBD Surgeons in Black Sea Region: A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study

• Published in: The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology Vol. 33; no. 12; pp. 1004 - 1011
• Main Authors: Celasin, Haydar, Törüner, Murat, Aghayeva, Sevda, Bayramov, Nuru, Vardanyan, Armen, Nanaeva, Bella, Dardanov, Dragomir, Podpriatov, Sergii, Dorofeyev, Andriy, Geçim, İbrahim Ethem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Turkey AVES 01.12.2022; Turkish Society of Gastroenterology
• Subjects: Azerbaijan; Black Sea; Bulgaria; Care and treatment; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Epidemics; Gastroenterologists; GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT; Humans; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - surgery; Original; Pandemics; Perception; Russia; Surgeons; Surveys; Turkey; Ukraine; Black Sea; Azerbaijan; Turkey; Bulgaria; Ukraine; Russia
• ISSN: 1300-4948; 2148-5607
• DOI: 10.5152/tjg.2022.22009

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an increasing challenge in managing inflammatory bowel dis- ease patients both medically and surgically. Although several international and national medical/surgical associations published guide- lines in this area, there is still a huge difference between daily practices and these guidelines, especially depending on regional practices and governmental policies. Therefore, we aimed to investigate and define gastroenterologists' and surgeons' fear of COVID-19 and how they have managed inflammatory bowel disease patients during this pandemic in the Black Sea region. A 20-question survey was administered to 70 gastroenterology specialists and 80 general surgeons who are mainly focused on the management of inflammatory bowel disease in 5 countries in the Black Sea region. The majority of respondents (81.3%) mentioned that they have concerns that their inflammatory bowel disease patients were at risk of contracting COVID-19. In addition, the majority of respondents (80.3%) believed that inflammatory bowel disease itself, inde- pendent of medications, might increase the risk of contracting COVID-19. The majority of gastroenterologists told that they did not stop inflammatory bowel disease medications due to the COVID-19 pandemic unless patients had COVID-19 disease. Surgeons overwhelm- ingly reached a consensus on how to test patients for COVID-19 perioperatively and came to a conclusion on which of the patients can- not wait to be operated. Both gastroenterologists and general surgeons, usually have similar perceptions. Despite the increasing number of definitive studies, it seems that there are still regional differences in the perception of COVID-19 and inflammatory bowel disease patient care during the pandemic.