Outpatient Clinic in Obesity Care During COVID-19 Outbreak: Physically Far, Virtually Near

Outpatient Clinic in Obesity Care During COVID-19 Outbreak: Physically Far, Virtually Near. Brief Correspondence on a Single Center Experience. Cohort Study

Bariatric patients represent a peculiar and frail subset of subjects, constantly increasing. During the novel coronavirus disease outbreak, for the lockdown of any non-urgent and non-oncological activity, the access to healthcare services was severely limited, according to the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders.

The constant and strict follow-up is mandatory in this special subset of patients. Therefore, starting from the telemedicine experience in different medical fields, in our bariatric surgery division we designed and started a dedicated project to follow-up obese patients using remote counselling.

Inclusion criteria:

• obese adults (> 18 years of age, BMI> 40 or > 35 with comorbidities) older than 18 years
• patients undergoing bariatric surgery within 6 months
• patients who required clinical and instrumental control
• presence of a caregiver in case of subject with cognitive impairment; patients with a history of bariatric surgery who requested a first outpatients access or established patients who requested an outpatients' visit for an emerging problem.

Exclusion criteria:

• virtual visit decline
• the internet or smart devices unavailability
• need for physical examination or radiological investigations established during a preliminary contact by phone.