ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Fibromyalgia is a clinical condition that presents generalized and chronic musculoskeletal pain. With the COVID-19 pandemic, factors such as social distancing and a reduction in the search for and supply of care for chronic diseases may have contributed to worsening the quality of life (QoL) of people with fibromyalgia. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between access to health care and the QoL of women with fibromyalgia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS:
This was a descriptive cross-sectional observational study of 30 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia, with a mean age of 56.3±10.4 years, who took part in group therapy promoted by the Fibro Dance (Dança Fibro) extension project at the Trairi Health Science Faculty of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Faculdade de Ciência da Saúde do Trairi da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - FACISA/ UFRN). QoL was evaluated using the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) and access to health care was investigated using a questionnaire developed by the researchers, which also included sociodemographic questions and questions about health conditions. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The Shapiro-Wilk normality test was used to check the distribution of the data, and the t-test was used to compare the means of the variables with normally distributed data, while the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test was used for the variables without normal distribution. A 5% significance level was adopted for the inferential analysis.
RESULTS:
66.7% of the participants received care in primary care, while 36.7% and 26.7% received care in specialized care and hospitals, respectively. As for QoL, the domains that showed the greatest impairment, with the lowest mean score, were limitation of physical aspects (9.2; 95%CI: 1.6; 16.7), limitation of emotional aspects (11.1; 95%CI: 0.6; 21.6), pain (29.9; 95%CI: 23.9;35.8), general state of health (35.8; 95%CI: 32.2; 39.4) and vitality (38.7; 95%CI: 31.9; 45.4). In the inferential analysis, there was no statistically significant difference in QoL between the group of women who received primary care or hospital care compared to the group who did not receive care at these levels (p > 0.05). On the other hand, there were statistically significant differences when the comparison was analyzed in specialized care. In the functional capacity domain (p = 0.005), the average score for the group that received specialized care was higher than the score for the group that did not, 38.2 and 24.2, respectively. For the social aspects domain (p = 0.045), the average score was 54.5 for those who received care and 37.5 for the group who did not receive care at the level of care in question.
CONCLUSION:
This study concluded that access to specialized care during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to women with fibromyalgia showing better results in QoL domains such as functional capacity and social aspects.
Keywords:
Chronic disease; Health care; Lifestyle
HIGHLIGHTS
The women with fibromyalgia who were assessed in this study had functional limitations in performing activities of daily living, regular to poor sleep, moderate feelings of tiredness and high levels of stress.A difference in the quality of life domains related to functional capacity and social aspects was observed among the group of women with fibromyalgia who received specialized care, compared to the group who did not have access to this level of care, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The results point to the importance of individuals with chronic pain being able to access all levels of health care in order to receive adequate assistance compatible with their needs, including guidance on self-management in health.