Prevalence of Unmet Rehabilitation Needs Among Canadians Living With Long-term Conditions or Disabilities During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: We aimed to describe the prevalence of unmet rehabilitation needs among a sample of Canadians living with long-term conditions or disabilities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Individuals residing in Canada during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants: Eligible participants were Canadians living with long-term conditions or disabilities, 15 years or older living in 1 of the 10 provinces or 3 territories (n=13,487).

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measure: We defined unmet rehabilitation needs as those who reported needing rehabilitation (ie, physiotherapy/massage therapy/chiropractic, speech, or occupational therapy, counseling services, support groups) but did not receive it because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We calculated the national, age, gender, and province/territory-specific prevalence and 95% confidence interval of unmet rehabilitation needs.

Results: During the first wave of the pandemic, the prevalence of unmet rehabilitation needs among Canadians with long-term conditions or disabilities was 49.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]; 48.3, 50.3]). The age-specific prevalence was higher among individuals 15-49 years old (55.6%; 95% CI [54.2, 57.1]) than those 50 years and older (46.0%; 95% CI [44.5, 47.4]). Females (53.7%; 95% CI [52.6, 54.9]) had higher unmet needs than males (44.1%; 95% CI [42.3, 45.9]). Unmet rehabilitation needs varied across provinces and territories.

Conclusions: In this sample, almost 50% of Canadians living with long-term conditions or disabilities had unmet rehabilitation needs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that a significant gap between the needs for and delivery of rehabilitation care existed during the early phase of the pandemic.