Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on management of patients with chronic pain.

Background and aims: Coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is one of the most important global health-care challenges to have emerged in the recent past. Just like most other medical specialties, the field of chronic pain was one of the hardest hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many patients overburdened with their chronic pain and their ongoing treatment delayed. We aimed at studying the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the management of chronic pain patients.

Material and methods: This prospective observational study was conducted on 150 patients of either sex, aged >18 years, presenting to pain management center with chronic pain conditions for >3 months. Responses were recorded against a designed questionnaire, and data was analyzed.

Results: Majority of the patients were females, with the mean age of 50 ± 13 years, belonging to the middle socioeconomic status, with the most common sites of pain being low back, knee, and neck. There was significant increase in the intensity and frequency of pain, which also affected sleep, working capacity, and mental health of the individuals. More than half of the interventional pain procedures were delayed. Fear of contracting infection decreased follow-up in the outpatient department, and most of the patients continued taking over-the-counter drugs and few took teleconsultation.

Conclusion: There is an urgent need to develop various training programs for health-care providers and patients to have better utilization of resources to provide uninterrupted and safe treatment services for chronic pain patients during a pandemic.