Impacto do lockdown pela pandemia por covid-19 em pacientes com disfunção temporomandibular - um estudo caso-controle

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and its events are having an impact on public mental health. However, there are still few studies analyzing the impact of lockdown by this pandemic on patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). The aim of this study was to carry out a sociodemographic analysis and to assess pain and distress rates in a population with and without TMD during and after lockdown, as well as investigating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is a case-control study using electronic questionnaires from 197 participants (105 with TMD and 92 controls). These questionnaires were carried out during and after the lockdown imposed by the pandemic by COVID-19 and were dedicated to sociodemographic analysis, as well as the presence of TMD, pain, distress and PTSD through the respective questionnaires: socioeconomic questionnaire, TMD Pain Screener, EVA, PHQ- 4 and PCL-C. In TMD participants there was a higher prevalence of pain and moderate and severe distress during (p = 0.027) and after (p <0.001) the lockdown, when compared to the control group, and increased levels of distress when compared to the lockdown periods and post-lockdown (p = 0.002), despite having presented the same level of pain between the periods evaluated. Furthermore, participants with TMD were 3.91x more likely to be female (CI95% = 1.88-8.13) and 3.82x more likely (CI95% = 1.61-9.08) to show signs of PTSD after the lockdown. In TMD participants, the end of the lockdown was not associated with changes in pain levels, but the anguish was increased in the post-lockdown period and associated with PTSD. These data suggest that a pre-existing painful condition may lead to increased distress and PTSD in the face of stressful situations such as the lockdown in the pandemic by COVID- 19.