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 one of the ten provinces or three territories (n=13,487). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: We defined unmet rehabilitation needs as those who reported needing rehabilitation (i.e., physiotherapy/massage therapy/chiropractic, speech, or occupational therapy, counselling services, support groups) but did not receive it due to 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% 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 fifty percent 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.