Abstract

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals faced psychological stress caused by fear and anxiety due to the high transmission and mortality rate of the disease, the social isolation, economic problems, and difficulties in reaching health services. Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic centralized pain sensitivity disorder. Psychological, physical and/or autoimmune stressors were found to increase FM symptoms. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 fear and anxiety level, and to examine their effect on disease severity, sleep quality, and mood in FM patients compared to control group.MethodsThis pilot study conducted as a cross-sectional study, and included 62 participants. Participants were divided into two groups: FM patient group (n = 31) and control group (n = 31). Symptom severity, sleep quality, and mood were determined using the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR), Pitsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), respectively. In order to evaluate the level of COVID-19 fear and anxiety, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) were used compared to control group.ResultsFIQR, PSQI, HAD-A, HAD-D, FCV-19S and CAS scores were significantly higher in the FM group (p = 0.01). A positive significant correlation was found between FCV-19S and CAS results and FIQR, PSQI, and HAD-anx results in FM patients (p < 0.05).ConclusionThis pilot study showed that, the individuals with FM can be more affected by psychological stress, and this situation negatively affects the symptom severity, sleep quality, and mood in FM patients, so these patients should be closely monitored in terms of psychological stressors and their effects during pandemics. More studies with more participants are necessary to describe the challenges lived by fibromyalgia population.

Highlights

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the start of an epidemic related to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that caused viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China, in December 2019

  • Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR), Pitsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS)-A, HADS-D, Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) scores were significantly higher in the FM group compared to the control group (p = 0.01) (Table 2)

  • A positive significant correlation was found between FCV-19S and CAS results and FIQR, PSQI, and HADanx results in FM patients (p < 0.05) (Table 3)

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Summary

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the start of an epidemic related to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that caused viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. In controlled studies in the literature, psychological, physical and/or autoimmune stressors were found to increase FM symptoms [9]. Anxiety and psychological stress cause an increase in symptom severity in FM patients and adversely affect their quality of life [10, 11]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals faced psychological stress caused by fear and anxiety due to the high transmission and mortality rate of the disease, the social isolation, economic problems, and difficulties in reaching health services. Psychological, physical and/or autoimmune stressors were found to increase FM symptoms This pilot study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 fear and anxiety level, and to examine their effect on disease severity, sleep quality, and mood in FM patients compared to control group

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