Patient Experience At Endoscopy Centers In Three West African Countries During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Aims The aim of this study was to assess the experience of patients in endoscopy rooms in three West African countriesduring the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods This was a multicenter cross-sectional study that took place over a period of 3 months (June to August 2020) inendoscopy centers in Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. An online survey was sent to patients who had performed upper andlower digestive endoscopies, in 8 endoscopy centers including private, public and confessional health centers. The survey were either sent electronically or completed in the endoscopy room with the help of field investigators, according topatients' preferences. The choice of centers was randomly made from the list of centers. Results A total of 294 patients answered to the online survey. There were 37 lower endoscopies and 257 upperendoscopies. Most of the patients came from confessional health centers (147 or 50 %). The wait times for obtaining anendoscopy appointment were 48 hours for 111 patients (37.8 %) and 72 hours for 70 patients 23.8 %.One hundred andeight patients or 36.7 % noted the absence of a sorting center in the health centers. In the endoscopy departments, 112patients (38.1 %), were questioned about the risk factors for contamination to SARS-CoV-2. Among the risk factors found, 6patients (2 %) traveled abroad in the 2 weeks preceding the examination, 4 patients 1.4 % had already been in contact witha subject at risk.The most frequent symptoms were abdominal pain (162 patients;55.1 %) and nausea (48 patients;16.3 %). The indications for the examinations were dominated by abdominal pain (156 patients;53.1 %).Twenty-two patients(7.4 %) felt highly exposed to COVID-19 during the endoscopy examination. Conclusions The risk associated with infection in SARS-CoV-2 does not seem to have been sufficiently taken into accountin endoscopy centers in the afore mentioned 3 countries.