key: cord-0857261-hkaka2bo
authors: Jiang, Tommy; Eleswarapu, Sriram V.; Osadchiy, Vadim
title: Re: Patrick Lewicki, Spyridon P. Basourakos, Bashir Al Hussein Al Awamlh, et al. Estimating the Impact of COVID-19 on Urology: Data from a Large Nationwide Cohort. Eur Urol Open Sci 2021;25:52–6: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Kidney Stones: Matching Online Discussions to Real World Data
date: 2021-05-27
journal: Eur Urol Open Sci
DOI: 10.1016/j.euros.2021.03.012
sha: 18a127715b0d7dd71306b257a94f8258f45527e2
doc_id: 857261
cord_uid: hkaka2bo

nan

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(March 1-June 1, 2020). We applied classic thematic analysis and natural language processing methodology to identify drivers of kidney stone decision-making among patients on this forum. We found that the COVID cohort expressed a higher degree of anxiety surrounding in-person encounters and greater reluctance regarding procedural interventions, with many patients opting instead for at-home, conservative treatment beyond clinical guidelines, reserving emergency department visits for almost exclusively larger stones, highlighting a tendency to postpone consultations that might have serious long-term sequelae [3] . In fact, the mean stone size among those reporting visits to the emergency department increased from 5.1 to 10.5 mm.

The downstream impact on health care utilization caused by the pandemic remains an open question and one that is understudied because of the recency of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lewicki et al [1] provide a valuable real-world insight that highlights the changes that many clinicians observed first-hand. Our study adds another dimension to these discussions by using a Big Data approach to assess drivers of patient decision-making.

Provided that telehealth is already an established mode for health care delivery after the outbreak of COVID-19, it will be interesting to see if these trends persist and in what way this adoption of telehealth and more widespread SARS-CoV-2 vaccination will shape the landscape of urology care.

Tommy Jiang and Vadim Osadchiy have nothing to disclose.

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