Serological Biomarkers at Hospital Admission and Hospitalization Treatments Are Not Related to Sensitization-Associated Symptoms in Patients with Post-COVID Pain.
Mohammadreza PourahmadiCarlos Guijarro HerraizJuan Torres-MachoOscar J Pellicer-ValeroAna Franco-MorenoJo NijsMaría VelascoPublished in: Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) (2023)
Current evidence suggests that a group of patients who had survived coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) and developed post-COVID pain can exhibit altered nociceptive processing. The role of serological biomarkers and hospitalization treatments in post-COVID pain is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association of serological biomarkers and treatments received during hospitalization with sensitization-associated symptoms in COVID-19 survivors with post-COVID pain. One hundred and eighty-three (n = 183) patients who had been hospitalized due to COVID-19 in one urban hospital of Madrid (Spain) during the first wave of the pandemic were assessed in a face-to-face interview 9.4 (SD 3.4) months after hospitalization. Levels of 19 serological biomarkers, hospitalization data, and treatments during hospitalization were obtained from hospital records. Sensitization-associated symptoms (Central Sensitization Inventory, CSI), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI), pain catastrophism (Pain Catastrophizing Scale), and anxiety/depressive level (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS) were assessed. The prevalence of post-COVID pain was 40.9% (n = 75). Twenty-nine (38.6%) patients had sensitization-associated symptoms. Overall, no differences in hospitalization data and serological biomarkers were identified according to the presence of sensitization-associated symptoms. The analysis revealed that patients with sensitization-associated symptoms exhibited higher lymphocyte count and lower urea levels than those without sensitization-associated symptoms, but differences were small. Pain catastrophism and depressive levels, but not fatigue, dyspnea, brain fog, anxiety levels, or poor sleep, were higher in individuals with sensitization-associated symptoms. In conclusion, this study revealed that sensitization-associated post-COVID pain symptoms are not associated with serological biomarkers at hospital admission and hospitalization treatments received.
Keyphrases
- coronavirus disease
- sleep quality
- chronic pain
- sars cov
- pain management
- neuropathic pain
- depressive symptoms
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- healthcare
- emergency department
- physical activity
- spinal cord
- spinal cord injury
- big data
- young adults
- ejection fraction
- single cell
- adverse drug
- risk factors
- artificial intelligence
- multiple sclerosis
- peripheral blood
- deep learning
- cerebral ischemia