The Impact of Quarantine on Pain Sensation among the General Population in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the pandemic era, quarantines might potentially have negative effects and disproportionately exacerbate health condition problems. We conducted this cross-sectional, national study to ascertain the prevalence of constant pain symptoms and how quarantines impacted the pain symptoms and identify the factors associated with constant pain to further guide reducing the prevalence of chronic pain for vulnerable people under the pandemic. The sociodemographic data, quarantine conditions, mental health situations and pain symptoms of the general population were collected. After adjusting for potential confounders, long-term quarantine (≥15 days) exposures were associated with an increased risk of constant pain complaints compared to those not under a quarantine (Odds Ratio (OR): 1.26; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.03, 1.54; p = 0.026). Risk factors including unemployment (OR: 1.55), chronic disease history (OR: 2.38) and infection with COVID-19 (OR: 2.15), and any of mental health symptoms including depression, anxiety, insomnia and PTSD (OR: 5.44) were identified by a multivariable logistic regression. Additionally, mediation analysis revealed that the effects of the quarantine duration on pain symptoms were mediated by mental health symptoms (indirect effects: 0.075, p < 0.001). These results advocated that long-term quarantine measures were associated with an increased risk of experiencing pain, especially for vulnerable groups with COVID-19 infection and with mental health symptoms. The findings also suggest that reducing mental distress during the pandemic might contribute to reducing the burden of pain symptoms and prioritizing interventions for those experiencing a long-term quarantine.

Effect of gastrointestinal symptoms and skipping breakfast on anxiety and depression in quarantined Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross sectional survey

“…There may be some explanations. Firstly, we speculate that one important reason why the psychological disorder of quarantined college students in this study was signi cantly higher than other groups is that the quarantine duration (48.83 ± 13.9 days) of these college students was much longer than participants who were usually only quarantined for one or two weeks in other investigations [24,31,32]. Another reason may be that the screening scales used to assess anxiety and depression are different.…”

“…Moreover, long-term self-quarantine measures are associated with an increased risk of physical discomfort. Sun et al showed that long-term quarantine increased the risk of experiencing pain, and psychological symptoms could mediate the impact of the quarantine on pain symptoms [32]. In addition, Nakov et al reported that the prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms signi cantly increased during the COVID-19 lockdown and may was associated increased numbers of patients with disorder of brain-gut interaction [4].…”