Table 2.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Interstitial Lung Disease Research

Impact	Potential Strategies for Mitigation
Work-from-home mandates for nonessential employees	•Support remote access for all employees •Reallocate research staff and trainees to projects that can be worked on remotely (eg, electronic chart reviews) •Establish regular virtual laboratory meetings by video conference
Restrictions on in-person study visits	•Modification of study protocols to waive completion of nonessential efficacy endpoints •Modification of study protocols to allow virtual visits •Use statistical analyses that are less prone to bias from missing data
Interrupted recruitment	•Maintain list of potential trial participants •Consider potential biases introduced by interrupted recruitment (eg, changing treatment patterns, unequal season of enrollment) •Adjust for timing of enrollment (eg, pre- vs postinterruption) in statistical analyses
Reduced access to study medications	•Coordinate with study sponsors and local research ethics boards to have study drug delivered (temperature controlled) directly to patients rather than dispensed by hospital-based pharmacies
Decreased clinical trial revenue and risk to research staff salaries	•Reallocate research staff to projects that have ongoing funding and can be worked on remotely •Work to establish short-term funding support from trial sponsors, research institution, hospital, etc.
Cancelled/postponed grant competitions	•Consider synergies of existing research programs with calls for COVID-19 funding applications

See Table 1 legend for expansion of abbreviation.