Factors disrupting the continuity of care for patients with chronic disease during the pandemics: A systematic review.

Background and Aims: Continuous routine care is necessary to prevent long-term complications of chronic diseases and improve patients' health conditions. This review study was conducted to determine the factors disrupting continuity of care for patients with chronic diseases during the pandemic. Methods: All original articles published on factors disrupting continuity of care for patients with chronic disease during a pandemic between December 2019 and June 28, 2023, in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest databases were searched. Selection of articles, data extraction, and qualitative evaluation of articles (through STROBE and COREQ checklist) were done by two researchers separately. Data graphing form was used to extract the data of each study and then the data were classified by thematic analysis method. Results: Out of 1708 articles reviewed from the databases, 22 were included. The factors disrupting the continuity of care for patients with chronic diseases during the epidemics were classified into two main categories: patient-side factors and health system-side factors. Patient-side factors including psychological, individual and social, disease-related, and health system-side factors including provider access, health system institutional, and infrastructural and financial problems were among the subcategories disrupting the continuity of care for patients with chronic diseases during the pandemic. Based on the studies, psychological factors and access to the provider were among the most frequent factors affecting the continuity of care for patients with chronic diseases in the pandemic. Conclusion: Considering the factors disrupting the continuity of care and applying appropriate interventions based on them, can guarantee the continuity of providing services to chronic patients in health crises.

Factors affecting oral and dental services` utilization among Elderly: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Regular use of oral and dental services by the elderly is one of the important factors in reducing oral and dental diseases. This study aimed to identify the factors affecting oral and dental services` utilization among elderly. METHODS: The published articles on the factors affecting oral and dental services` utilization among elderly were found through a scoping search and using related keywords in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases within January 2000 - December 2022 according to the PRISMA guidelines. The data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method. RESULTS: Among the 2381 articles retrieved from the databases, forty-two were extracted. The factors affecting oral and dental services` utilization among elderly were classified into five main components as follows: access, demographic factors, social factors, health level, and mental factors. The results showed that income, education level, living area, number of teeth, and importance of care were the most frequent in the main components of access, demographic factors, social factors, health level, and mental factors, respectively. CONCLUSION: Equitable utilization of oral and dental services is the right of all members of the society, especially the elderly. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the elderly with suitable conditions to utilize such services, which are mostly luxury items. Furthermore, increasing the elderly's awareness and encouraging them to use oral and dental services regularly can help reduce the burden of oral and dental diseases.

Inequality in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccine: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The equality in the distribution of vaccines between and within countries along with follow sanitation tips and observe social distance, are effective strategies to rid the world of COVID-19 pandemic. Inequality in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine, in addition to causing inequity to the population health, has a significant impact on the process of economic recovery. METHODS: All published original papers on the inequality of Covid-19 vaccine distribution and the factors affecting it were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and ProQuest databases between December 2020 to 30 May 2022. Selection of articles, extraction of their data and qualitative assessment (by STROBE) were performed by two researchers separately. Data graphing form was used to extract detailed data from each study and then, the collected data were classified. RESULTS: A total of 4623 articles were evaluated. After removing duplicates and screening the title, abstract and full text of articles, 22 articles were selected and entered into the study. Fifteen (68.17%) studies were conducted in the United States, three (13.64%) in Europe, three (13.64%) in Asia and one (6.66%) in Oceania. Factors affecting the inequality in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine were classified into macro and micro levels determinants. CONCLUSION: Macro determinants of inequality in the Covid-19 vaccine distribution were consisted of economic (stability and country's economic status, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, financial support and human development index), infrastructure and health system (appropriate information system, functional cold chains in vaccine transport, transport infrastructure, medical and non-medical facilities per capita, healthcare access and quality), legal and politics (vaccination allocation rules, health policies, political ideology and racial bias), and epidemiologic and demographic factors (Covid-19 incidence and deaths rate, life expectancy, vulnerability to Covid-19, working in medical setting, comorbidities, social vulnerability, incarceration and education index). Moreover, micro/ individual level factors were included in economic (household's income, home ownership, employment, poverty, access to healthy food and residency in the deprived areas) and demographic and social characteristics (sex, age, race, ethnic, religion, disability, location (urban/rural) and insurance coverage).