Zis Panagiotis, Ioannou Christiana, Artemiadis Artemios, Christodoulou Katerina, Kalampokini Stefania, Hadjigeorgiou Georgios M
Medical School, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus.
Second Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Attikon University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 12462 Athens, Greece.
J Clin Med. 2022 Sep 22;11(19):5569. doi: 10.3390/jcm11195569.
Chronic pain is increasingly recognized as part of long COVID syndrome, mainly in the form of myalgias. However, chronic pain has several forms, and according to our clinical experience, COVID-19 survivors suffer from numerous painful syndromes, other than myalgias. The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of chronic pain, describe the commonest painful syndromes and identify pain determinants in a random population of COVID-19 survivors.
This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Medical School, University of Cyprus. A random population of 90 COVID-19 survivors was recruited. Demographic and COVID-19 related clinical characteristics were recorded. The painDETECT and DN4 questionnaires were used to evaluate the painful syndromes.
The prevalence of chronic pain was estimated to be 63.3%. The most common site of pain was low back (37.8%), followed by joints (28.9%) and neck (12.2%). Patients with chronic pain compared to subjects without pain were older (50.5 ± 15.9 versus 42.2 ± 12.6, = 0.011) and more likely to be female (71.9% versus 45.5%, = 0.013). One in six subjects (16.7%) reported new-onset pain post COVID-19. The prevalence of neuropathic pain was estimated to be 24.4%. After adjusting for age and gender, headache during COVID-19 was a statistically significant predictor of neuropathic pain, increasing 4.9 times (95% 1.4-16.6, = 0.011) the odds of neuropathic pain.
Chronic pain-especially neuropathic-is widely prevalent in COVID-19 survivors. One in six subjects will develop new-onset pain that will persist beyond the acute phase of the disease and, therefore, should be considered a symptom of long COVID syndrome.
慢性疼痛越来越被认为是长期新冠综合征的一部分，主要表现为肌痛。然而，慢性疼痛有多种形式，根据我们的临床经验，新冠病毒感染康复者除肌痛外，还患有多种疼痛综合征。我们研究的目的是估计慢性疼痛的患病率，描述最常见的疼痛综合征，并确定新冠病毒感染康复者随机人群中的疼痛决定因素。
这是一项在塞浦路斯大学医学院进行的横断面研究。招募了90名新冠病毒感染康复者的随机人群。记录了人口统计学和与新冠病毒感染相关的临床特征。使用疼痛DETECT问卷和DN4问卷评估疼痛综合征。
慢性疼痛的患病率估计为63.3%。最常见的疼痛部位是下背部（37.8%），其次是关节（28.9%）和颈部（12.2%）。与无疼痛的受试者相比，慢性疼痛患者年龄更大（50.5±15.9岁对42.2±12.6岁，P=0.011），女性比例更高（71.9%对45.5%，P=0.013）。六分之一的受试者（16.7%）报告在新冠病毒感染后出现新发疼痛。神经性疼痛的患病率估计为24.4%。在调整年龄和性别后，新冠病毒感染期间的头痛是神经性疼痛的统计学显著预测因素，使神经性疼痛的几率增加4.9倍（95%可信区间1.4-16.6，P=0.011）。
慢性疼痛，尤其是神经性疼痛，在新冠病毒感染康复者中广泛流行。六分之一的受试者会出现新发疼痛，这种疼痛会在疾病急性期后持续存在，因此应被视为长期新冠综合征的一种症状。
