Brazilian Journal of Pain
https://brjp.org.br/article/doi/10.5935/2595-0118.20220043-en
Brazilian Journal of Pain
Original Article

Possible repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on women with fibromyalgia: longitudinal study

Possíveis repercussões da pandemia da COVID-19 em mulheres com fibromialgia: estudo longitudinal

Géssika Araújo de Melo; Marcela Laís Lima Holmes Madruga; Maria Beatriz Ribeiro de Oliveira; Nelson Torro

http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/2595-0118.20220043-en BrJP, vol.5, n3, p.195-199, 2022
PDF English
PDF Português
SciELO
Downloads: 0
Views: 282

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In the context of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, individuals with chronic pain, as in fibromyalgia, experienced the impact of social isolation. Tus, considering the scarcity of studies that contemplate initial assessments of women with fibromyalgia before the pandemic period and that compare them with the pandemic context moment, the objective was to analyze the possible repercussions of the pandemic resulting from COVID-19 on the psychological symptoms, quality of life and pain.

METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional, observational research with an exploratory and quantitative approach. Te sample was composed of 15 women with fibromyalgia for at least three months, aged between 43 and 55 years and with pain level above four on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Te Sociodemographic and Clinical Questionnaire, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) were used.

RESULTS: On average, pain intensity during social isolation (8,40±1,50) and anxiety level (29,80±13,97) were higher than before the pandemic (6,06±1,62, p=0,001) and (22,33±9,69, p=0,006), respectively. In other words, the participants showed higher levels of anxiety and pain during the period of social isolation. Mean depressive symptoms and quality of life difered minimally, showing no statistical significance, with p=0.94 and p=0.46, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to the increase in pain and anxiety levels during the pandemic period. However, other uncontrolled variables may have infuenced this result, such as resilience and family support, for example.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Individuals with fibromyalgia experienced the impact of social isolation.  
  • Chronic diseases are associated with higher levels of psychological stress.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic may have repercussions on pain and anxiety levels.

Keywords

Coronavirus infection, COVID-19, Fibromyalgia, Mental health, Social isolation

Resumo

JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: Diante do contexto da pandemia ocasionada pela COVID-19, os indivíduos com dor crônica, como na fibromialgia, experimentaram o impacto do isolamento social. Assim, considerando a escassez de estudos que contemplem avaliações iniciais de mulheres com fibromialgia antes do período de pandemia e que as comparem com o momento de contexto pandêmico, objetivou-se analisar as possíveis repercussões da pandemia decorrentes da COVID-19 em sintomas psicológicos, qualidade de vida e dor.

MÉTODOS: Trata-se de uma pesquisa observacional descritiva, longitudinal, com abordagem exploratória e quantitativa. A amostra foi composta por 15 mulheres com fibromialgia a pelo menos três meses, com idades entre 43 e 55 anos e com nível de dor acima de quatro na Escala Analógica Visual (EAV). Foram utilizados o Questionário Sociodemográfico e Clínico, o Inventário Beck de Ansiedade (IBA), o Inventário Beck de Depressão (IBD) e o Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ).

RESULTADOS: Em média, a intensidade da dor durante o isolamento social (8,40±1,50) e o nível de ansiedade (29,80±13,97) foram maiores do que antes da pandemia (6,06±1,62, p=0,001) e (22,33±9,69, p=0,006), respectivamente. Ou seja, as participantes mostraram maiores níveis de ansiedade e dor durante o período de isolamento social. A média dos sintomas depressivos e qualidade de vida diferiram minimamente, não demostrando significância estatística, com p=0,94 e p=0,46, respectivamente.

CONCLUSÃO: A pandemia da COVID-19 pode ter contribuído para o aumento das queixas de dor e ansiedade durante o período pandêmico. Entretanto, outras variáveis não controladas podem ter infuenciado nesse resultado, como resiliência e suporte familiar, por exemplo.

DESTAQUES

  • Indivíduos com fibromialgia experimentaram o impacto do isolamento social. 
  • Doenças crônicas estão associadas com maiores níveis de estresse psicológico.
  • A pandemia da COVID-19 pode repercutir nos níveis de dor e ansiedade.

Palavras-chave

COVID-19, Fibromialgia, Infecções por coronavírus, Isolamento social, Saúde mental

References

Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, Zhang L, Fan G, Xu J, Gu X, Cheng Z, Yu T, Xia J, Wei Y, Wu W, Xie X, Yin W, Li H, Liu M, Xiao Y, Gao H, Guo L, Xie J, Wang G, Jiang R, Gao Z, Jin Q, Wang J, Cao B. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497-506.

Hossain MM, Sultana A, Purohit N. Mental health outcomes of quarantine and isolation for infection prevention: a systematic umbrella review of the global evidence. Epidemiol Health. 2020;42.

El-Tallawy SN, Nalamasu R, Pergolizzi JV, Gharibo C. Pain management during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pain Ter. 2020;9(2):453-66.

Miró E, Lupiáñez J, Hita E, Martínez MP, Sánchez AI, Buela-Casal G. Attentional deficits in fibromyalgia and its relationships with pain, emotional distress, and sleep dysfunction complaints. Psychol Health. 2011;26(6):765-80.

Bair MJ, Krebs EE. Fibromyalgia. Ann Intern Med. 2020;172(5).

Meints SM, Edwards RR. Evaluating psychosocial contributions to chronic pain outcomes. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2018;87(Pt B):168-82.

Melo GA, Oliveira EA, Santos Andrade SMM, Torro N. Neuromodulation complementary to physiotherapy in fibromyalgia and its electroen-cephalographic correlates: a randomized clinical trial protocol. Res Soc Dev. 2020;9(9).

Kopf A, Patel NB. Guia para o tratamento da dor em contextos de poucos recursos. 2010.

Beck AT, Epstein N, Brown G, Steer RA. An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: psychometric properties. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1988;56(6):893-7.

Cunha JA. Manual da Versão em português das Escalas Beck. 2001.

Beck AT, Steer RA, Carbin MG. Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clin Psychol Rev. 1988;8(1):77-100.

Bruce B, Fries J F. Te health assessment questionnaire (HAQ). Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2005;2(5):S14.

Bellato E, Marini E, Castoldi F, Barbasetti N, Mattei L, Bonasia DE, Blonna D. Fibromyalgia syndrome: etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and trea-tment. Pain Res Treat. 2012;2012:426130.

Ramiro Fde S, Lombardi Júnior I, da Silva RC, Montesano FT, de Oliveira NR, Diniz RE. Investigation of stress, anxiety and depression in women with fibromyalgia: a comparative study. Rev Bras Reumatol. 2014;54(1):27-32.

Salari N, Hosseinian-Far A, Jalali R, Vaisi-Raygani A, Rasoulpoor S, Mohammadi M. Prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression among the ge-neral population during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Glob Health. 2020;16(1):1-11.

Piraccini E, Byrne H, Taddei S. Chronic pain management in COVID-19 Era. J Clin Anesth. 2020;65:109852.

Andrade A, Vilarino GT, Sieczkowska SM, Coimbra DR, Bevilacqua GG, Stefens RAK. Te relationship between sleep quality and fibromyalgia symptoms. J Health Psychol. 2020;25(9):1176-86.

Diaz-Piedra C, Catena A, Sánchez AI, Miró E, Martínez M P, Buela-Casal G. Sleep disturbances in fibromyalgia syndrome: the role of clinical and polysomnographic variables explaining poor sleep quality in patients. Sleep Med. 2015;16(98):917-25.

Sluka KA, Frey-Law L, Bement MH. Exercise-induced pain and analgesia? Underlying mechanisms and clinical translation. Pain. 2018;159(1):S91-7.

Kandola A, Vancampfort D, Herring M, Rebar A, Hallgren M, Firth J, Stubbs B. Moving to beat anxiety: epidemiology and therapeutic issues with physical activity for anxiety. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2018;20(8):63.

Del Pozo-Cruz J, Alfonso-Rosa RM, Castillo-Cuerva A, Sañudo B, Nolan P, Del Pozo-Cruz B. Depression symptoms are associated with key health outcomes in women with fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional study. In J Rheum Dis. 2017;20(7):798-808.

Luo M, Guo L, Yu M, Wang H. Te psychological and mental impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on medical staf and public - a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Res. 2020;291:113190-9.

Montero A, Pacheco de Vasconcelos SR. COVID-19 and chronic pain: many questions and few certainties. Semergen. 2020;46(6):365-7.

Dueñas M, Ojeda B, Salazar A, Mico JA, Failde I. A review of chronic pain impact on patients, their social environment and the health care sys-tem. J Pain Res. 2016;9:457-67.

Kersebaum D, Fabig SC, Sendel M, Sachau J, Lassen J, Rehm S, Hüllemann P, Baron R, Gierthmühlen J. Te early infuence of COVID-19 pan-demic-associated restrictions on pain, mood, and everyday life of patients with painful polyneuropathy. Pain Rep. 2020;5(6).

Karos K, McParland JL, Bunzli S, Devan H, Hirsh A, Kapos F P. Te social threats of COVID-19 for people with chronic pain. Pain. 2020;161(10):2229-35.

Consonni M, Telesca A, Grazzi L, Cazzato D, Lauria G. Life with chronic pain during COVID-19 lockdown: the case of patients with small fibre neuropathy and chronic migraine. Neurol Sci. 2021;42(2):389-97.

Cerami C, Santi GC, Galandra C, Dodich A, Cappa S F, Vecchi T, Crespi C. Covid-19 outbreak in Italy: are we ready for the psychosocial and the economic crisis? Baseline findings from the PsyCovid study. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:556-65.

Solomou I, Constantinidou F. Prevalence and predictors of anxiety and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and compliance with precautionary measures: Age and sex matter. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(14):1-19.

Chudasama Y V, Gillies CL, Zaccardi F, Coles B, Davies MJ, Seidu S, Khunti K. Impact of COVID-19 on routine care for chronic diseases: a global survey of views from heal-thcare professionals. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020;14(5):965-7.

Submitted date:
05/24/2021

Accepted date:
05/13/2022

6399de77a953950a8703e5b5 brjp Articles
2595-3192 (Electronic) 2595-0118 (Printed)
BrJP ©2024 All rights reserved.

BrJP

Share this page
Page Sections