Orthodontic treatment pause during COVID-19 outbreak: Are we overlooking potential harms to our patients and their treatment outcomes?

Global survey to assess preferences for attending virtual orthodontic learning sessions: Pre-webinar settings

OBJECTIVES

To assess technical factors and audience preferences before attending orthodontic online learning activity, the demand for which increased dramatically in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Online survey.

PARTICIPANTS

Global orthodontic residents and specialists.

METHODS

A validated and anonymous survey comprising 17 online questions was sent to 3000 individuals. The data were collected three months later. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were applied.

RESULTS

The participants' response rate was 19.9%, with almost equal gender participation. Most of the responders were based in Asia (51.4%). Almost half of the participants were aged 25-35 years with less than 5 years of clinical experience. Regardless of the age, gender or global distribution, 57.3% of respondents opted to share limited personal information with the host. One-third of the respondents preferred receiving webinar reminders via email, ideally a day and/or one hour before the webinar, especially being exportable to their calendars. Age played a major role in shaping this trend, as young participants favoured the one hour (1-h) pre-webinar reminder more than other age groups (P=0.02). Receiving information about the speaker, learning outcomes and pre-webinar reading material (WRM) were preferable, particularly among young participants in comparison with the older age groups (P<0.05). Male participants from Asia and Africa preferred to attend online lectures during the mid-evening on weekends compared with women who were in favour of early evening sessions (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

It must be borne in mind during the interpretation of the results that the data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to take into consideration the gender, age, cultural background and level of experience while setting up virtual orthodontic learning sessions. Organisers need to tailor their events to meet the needs of the attendees.

Associations between new health conditions and healthcare service utilizations among older adults in the United Kingdom: effects of COVID-19 risks, worse financial situation, and lowered income

Background

Health services are critically important for older adults, particularly during the Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, COVID-19 risks, worse financial situation, and lowered income may seriously impact health services by feasibility and accessibility. Therefore, the aim of the present study was empirically to explore how health-seeking behaviors are influenced by new health conditions through COVID-19 risks, worse financial situation, and lowered income.

Methods

Data were from ELSA COVID-19 waves 1 and 2 which included a sample of 6952 and 6710 older adults in the United Kingdom, respectively. The frequency distribution analyses were conducted by Chi-square analysis by gender groups. Zero-inflated Poisson regressions were used to examine how worse financial situation and lowered income were associated with COVID-19 risks and new health conditions. Logistic regressions were employed to examine the associations of COVID-19 risks, worse financial situation, and lowered income with treatment cancellation and accessible care. Cross-sectional mediation models, cross-sectional moderation models, longitudinal mediation models, and longitudinal moderation models were conducted based on Hayes model 6, Hayes model 29, Montoya model 1, and Montoya model 2, respectively.

Results

Most of the sample was >65 years old, females, located in urban place, and involved in long-standing condition. Regression analysis showed that COVID-19 risks, worse financial situation, and lowered income were associated with treatment cancellation and accessible care. In the longitudinal mediations, effect coefficients of ‘X’ → (treatment cancellation in wave 1 (Tcn1)- treatment cancellation in wave 2 (Tcn2))(β = −.0451, p < .0001, low limit confidence interval (LLCI) = −.0618, upper limit confidence interval (ULCI) = −.0284), ‘X’ → (COVID-19 risks in wave 1 (Csk1)- COVID-19 risks in wave 2 (Csk2)) (β = .0592, p < .0001, LLCI = .0361, ULCI = .0824), and ‘X’ → (lowered income in wave 1 (CIn1)- lowered income in wave 2 (CIn2)) (β = −.0351, p = .0001, LLCI = -.0523, ULCI = -.0179) were significant. Additionally, effect coefficients of ‘X’ → (accessible care in wave 1 (Acr1)- accessible care in wave 2 (Acr2)) (β = .3687, p < .0001, LLCI = .3350, ULCI = .4025),'X’ → (Csk1- Csk2) (β = .0676, p = .0005, LLCI = .0294, ULCI = .1058), and ‘X’ → (worse financial situation in wave 1- worse financial situation in wave 2) (β = −.0369, p = .0102, LLCI = -.0650, ULCI = -.0087) were significant.

Conclusions

There were longitudinal mediating effects of COVID-19 risks, worse financial situation, and lowered income on the relationship between new health conditions and treatment cancellation and relationship between new health conditions and accessible care. These findings suggest that worse financial situation, lowered income, and COVID-19 risks exerted an influence on the relationship between new health conditions and treatment cancellation and relationship between new health conditions and accessible care among older adults. Findings suggest that longitudinal mediations may be important components of interventions aiming to meet service needs. Long-term health policy implications indicate the need for reducing COVID-19 risks, improving financial situation, and increasing income among the targeted population.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-02995-8.