Pain and Fatigue Perceptions of Patients with Systemic Autoimmune Myopathies before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period

Abstract

Objective: To assess general pain and fatigue and their association with the disease status of patients with systemic autoimmune myopathies (SAMs), in terms of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these parameters. Methods: This is a cross-sectional and prospective cohort study that included 72 patients with SAMs who were matched by age and gender with 67 healthy individuals. The patients engaged in an interview via a validity survey to measure disease status, and assess a visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and fatigue in two periods: before (phase I) and during (phase II) of the Brazilian COVID-19 pandemic. For cross-sectional analysis, patients’ data from phase I were compared to healthy individuals’ information, whereas for prospective analysis, data of the patients who were assessed in phase II were compared to the same patients’ data from phase I. Results: The patients had significantly more pain perception, comparable fatigue perception and fatigue severity, when compared to the healthy individuals. During the COVID-19 pandemic period, the disease activity, pain and fatigue perceptions, and fatigue severity remained unchanged. Despite this, the pain and fatigue perceptions correlated significantly with patients’ VAS, the patient health outcome, and fatigue severity. In addition, the pain perception correlated to creatine phosphokinase, whereas fatigue perceptions correlated to physicians' VAS. Conclusions: The study showed that patients with SAMs have significantly increased pain perceptions compared to healthy individuals. During the COVID-19 pandemic period, the pain and fatigue perceptions remained unchanged in patients with SAMs but they correlated to several disease status parameters.