Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on chronic pain management: Looking for the best way to deliver care

Puntillo, Filomena; Giglio, Mariateresa; Brienza, Nicola; Viswanath, Omar; Urits, Ivan; Kaye, Alan D.; Pergolizzi, Joseph V.; Paladini, Antonella; Varrassi, Giustino

doi:10.1016/j.bpa.2020.07.001

Cited by 90 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The COVID19 pandemic has significantly impacted the lives and health of people worldwide, with potential for further effects in the future. The unprecedented changes which developed quickly due to the pandemic, have disrupted and affected everyone’s daily life, including those living with chronic pain ( Puntillo et al, 2020 ). About 15–20% of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 progress to a severe condition that requires hospitalization ( Nanjayya, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chronic pain, as defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), is a persistent or recurrent pain lasting more than 3 months or beyond the normal tissue healing ( Puntillo et al, 2020 ). The overall prevalence of chronic pain in the general population is around 30% and its burden is huge in terms of personal and socioeconomic costs ( Van Hecke et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pain in Covid Era

Matielo

Oliveira

et al. 2021

Front. Physiol.

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The COVID19 pandemic has impacted the lives and health of persons worldwide and although majority of COVID19 patients present with respiratory symptoms, pain emerges as an important feature of COVID19 infection. About 15–20% of patients progress to a severe condition that requires hospitalization. Although the disease was initially reported as a respiratory syndrome, other systems such as cardiovascular, renal, and nervous systems may be affected in the acute stages, increasing the need for continuous support to treat multiple sequelae caused by the disease. Due to the severity of the disease, damages found after discharge should also be considered. Providing multidisciplinary interventions promoting physical and psychological recovery in the first stages of hospitalization can minimize these damages. Cognitive, physical and psychological dysfunction reported by COVID19 patients after discharge can have profound effects on quality of life. Pain is usually part of this dysfunction, but it is still poorly understood how it affects survivors of COVID19 infections. There is limited information about the clinical characteristics, treatment and outcome of maintenance of pain in COVID19 patients. The purpose of this narrative review is to provide an overview of the implications of COVID19 on acute and chronic pain states.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pain in Covid Era

Matielo

Oliveira

et al. 2021

Front. Physiol.

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“…Similar trends were also evident in comparable surveillance systems of other European countries and in the United States of America (1,2). To this day, the pandemic shutdown affects chronic pain management worldwide with an additional impact on patients' psychological health (3).…”

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confidence: 99%

Patients with Chronic Pain Prefer Maintenance of Pain Treatment Despite COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions

et al. 2021

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BACKGROUND: Worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on daily life. First studies describe a negative impact of pandemic stressors even on individuals without previous mental illnesses. The home lockdown and the shutdown of pain clinics make it difficult for all patients to get the healthcare they need. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent patients with chronic pain felt affected by the pandemic and its consequences on pain treatments, focussing on the beginning of the outbreak. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective noninterventional study. SETTING: Medical University Center . METHODS: One-hundred and forty-nine patients, suffering from chronic pain, treated at a large German interdisciplinary pain center, were studied over a period of 2 months at the beginning of the pandemic. Data from patient charts and questionnaires were evaluated. Patients were asked about postponements or cancellations of pain therapy, the possible effect on pain levels, depression, anxiety and stress, and the impact of intensified hygiene measures. Results were compared to those from standardized and validated questionnaires from the same patients (German version of the depression, anxiety, and stress scale = DASS) at the time of the first contact in the pain clinic. RESULTS: Eighty-four (56.4%) patients reported cancelled or postponed treatments during the pandemic. Those chronic pain patients with delayed or cancelled treatments reported significantly more pain and psychological distress. The delay or discontinuation of treatments resulted in a deterioration of symptoms. From the patients’ point of view this deterioration was unrelated to the timing of treatment and not secondary to increased hygiene measures. In both groups, patients showed a significant amelioration of the DASS values compared to the values they had at the beginning of treatment, despite the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on care structures. The majority of the patients do not think that the quality of pain treatment was significantly affected by the intensified hygiene requirements. LIMITATIONS: The limitations of the study are the small number of patients because of the limitation to a short period of time at the beginning of the pandemic and the return rate of 40.2% of the study consents. CONCLUSIONS: Even in the event of a pandemic-related restriction of the care structures, patients with chronic pain benefit from pain therapy. Limitations such as the increased hygiene measures caused by the pandemic were not considered detrimental to the therapeutic measures. KEY WORDS: COVID-19 pandemic, hygiene measures, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, stress

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“…The novel coronavirus outbreak of 2019-2020 resulting in the potentially life-threatening disease of COVID-19 is going on at the time of writing this article [18]. This fourth pandemic of the past 100 years, among other issues [19][20][21][22][23][24] has exposed a pretty new problem for public health: misleading or false information. COVID-19 and the Spanish flu share some similar features: both diseases are highly contagious and both outbreaks occurred in an era when people left home: the Spanish flu during a world war and COVID-19 in an era of globalization.…”

Section: Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Four pandemics: lessons learned, lessons lost

et al. 2020

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In the past 100 years, the world has faced four distinctly different pandemics: the Spanish flu of 1918-1919, the SARS pandemic of 2003, the H1N1 or “swine flu” pandemic of 2012, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Each public health crisis exposed specific systemic shortfalls and provided public health lessons for future events. The Spanish flu revealed a nursing shortage and led to a great appreciation of nursing as a profession. SARS showed the importance of having frontline clinicians be able to work with regulators and those producing guidelines. H1N1 raised questions about the nature of a global organization such as the World Health Organization in terms of the benefits and potential disadvantages of leading the fight against a long-term global public health threat. In the era of COVID-19, it seems apparent that we are learning about both the blessing and curse of social media.

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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on chronic pain management: Looking for the best way to deliver care

Cited by 90 publications

References 48 publications

Pain in Covid Era

Pain in Covid Era

Patients with Chronic Pain Prefer Maintenance of Pain Treatment Despite COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions

Four pandemics: lessons learned, lessons lost

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