Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on radiology research: an Italian survey

This article reports the results of a national survey, which had the purpose of understanding how COVID-19 pandemic has changed the scientific activity of Italian radiology researchers. A total of 327 Italian radiologists took part in the survey (mean age: 49±12 years). The majority of participants (245/327, 74.9%) was not working for or in agreement with a University and most of them were hospital staff radiologists (222/327, 67.9%). More than two-thirds of surveyed radiologists (231/327, 71%) was working in a public institution, which mostly was a general hospital (188/327, 57.5%); 86/327 (26.3%) participants declared to work in a university hospital. After national lockdown, the working-flow came back to normal in the vast majority of cases (285/327, 87.2%). Participants reported that a total of 462 radiological trials were recruiting patients at their institutions prior to COVID-19 outbreak, of which 332 (71.9%) were stopped during the emergency. On the other hand, 252 radiological trials have been started during the pandemic, of which 156 were non-COVID-19 trials (61.9%) and 96 were focused on COVID-19 patients (38.2%). Participants reported a significant increase of the number of hours per week spent for research purposes during national lockdown (mean 4.5±8.9 hours during lockdown vs. 3.3±6.8 hours before lockdown; p=.046), followed by a significant drop after lockdown (3.2±6.5 hours per week, p=.035). Notably, 60% of participants reported that they do not spend any time on research. During national lockdown, 15.6% of participants started new review articles and completed old papers, 14.1% completed old works, and 8.9% started new review articles. Ninety-six surveyed radiologists (29.3%) declared to have submitted at least one article during COVID-19 emergency. This study confirms the need to be prepared to future challenging scenarios like COVID-19 emergency in order to support radiology researchers, thereby allowing them to push forward their activity.本研究报道了一项全国性调查的结果，旨在探究新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）大流行对意大利放射学研究者科研活动的影响。本次调查共纳入327名意大利放射科医师参与，参与者平均年龄为49±12岁。多数参与者（245/327，74.9%）未受雇于高校或未与高校开展合作，且其中大部分为医院在职放射科医师（222/327，67.9%）。超过三分之二的受访放射科医师（231/327，71%）供职于公立机构，其中绝大多数为综合医院（188/327，57.5%）；另有86/327（26.3%）的参与者表示其就职于大学附属医院。全国性封控措施解除后，绝大多数参与者的工作流程已恢复正常（285/327，87.2%）。参与者反馈，在COVID-19疫情暴发前，其所在机构共有462项放射学临床试验正在招募受试者，其中332项（71.9%）在疫情紧急期间被迫中止。而在疫情期间，共有252项放射学临床试验启动，其中156项为非COVID-19相关试验（61.9%），96项针对COVID-19患者（38.2%）。参与者报告称，在全国封控期间，其每周用于科研工作的时长较封控前出现显著增长：封控期间平均每周科研时长为4.5±8.9小时，封控前为3.3±6.8小时（p=0.046）；封控结束后，该时长又出现显著下降，平均为3.2±6.5小时/周（p=0.035）。值得注意的是，60%的参与者表示其未在科研工作上投入任何时间。在全国封控期间，15.6%的参与者启动了新的综述类论文撰写并完成了既往未完成的稿件，14.1%完成了既往未竟的科研工作，另有8.9%启动了新的综述类论文撰写。96名受访放射科医师（29.3%）表示，其在COVID-19疫情紧急期间至少提交过1篇学术论文。本研究证实，为支持放射学研究者开展科研活动、推动其科研工作进展，我们需要做好应对COVID-19疫情这类未来挑战性公共卫生事件的准备。