22nd Annual Pain Medicine Meeting 2023

INTRODUCTION

“Long COVID” or the long-term symptom(s) present after an acute COVID-19 infection is a significant issue in healthcare. As many as 87% of patients experience symptoms after COVID infection, one of the most common being chest pain.

OBJECTIVES

Identify possible risk factors of chronic chest discomfort after COVID.
Identify possible treatment options or chronic chest discomfort after COVID.
Explore the outcomes of patients who experienced chest discomfort after COVID.

METHODS

A Retrospective Chart Review of patients at Mayo enterprise, experiencing chest discomfort three to six months after COVID.

RESULTS

520 charts were screened, yielding a final sample of 104 patients.
We found no standardized method of pain treatment or management, as displayed in figure 2.
18 patients were clinically overweight and 56 were classified as obese at the time of one or more of their infections.
30 patients were referred to one or more subspecialties within the Pain Medicine department.
23 patients in our cohort were hospitalized for one or more of their COVID illnesses, and 9 were admitted to the ICU or critical care.
So far, of the 53 patients went to the ER one or more times after COVID because of chest discomfort, 6 were admitted for over 24 hours.

DISCUSSION

Chest pain was experienced as intermittent discomfort, not constant.
Patients had various comorbidities that may complicate determining the origin of their chest pain, as well as possibly contributing to the variety of treatments prescribed.
Chest pain was rarely an isolated symptom of Long COVID, shortness of breath being the most common associated symptoms.
Our current analysis indicates that chest pain continues for years in many individuals, suggesting that COVID related chest pain may be resistant to treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the observed heterogeneity of treatments and outcomes of patients experiencing long-term chest discomfort after COVID, future studies of reliable treatments and management of pain among this population is warranted.
This project is currently in the phase of data analysis. Moving forward, a written manuscript will be prepared.

REFERENCES

Dani M, Dirksen A, Taraborrelli P, Torocastro M, Panagopoulos D, Sutton R, et al. Autonomic dysfunction in 'long COVID': rationale, physiology and management strategies. Clin Med (Lond). 2021;21(1):e63-e7.

Cabrera Martimbianco AL, Pacheco RL, Bagattini Â M, Riera R. Frequency, signs and symptoms, and criteria adopted for long COVID-19: A systematic review. Int J Clin Pract. 2021;75(10):e14357.

Li K, Wu J, Wu F, Guo D, Chen L, Fang Z, et al. The Clinical and Chest CT Features Associated With Severe and Critical COVID-19 Pneumonia. Invest Radiol. 2020;55(6):327-31.

FIGURE 1: PATIENT INFORMATION

FIGURE 2: PRESCRIBED TREATMENTS

22nd Annual Pain Medicine Meeting 2023

CHEST WALL PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH LONG COVID SYNDROME

Poster Presenter

Authors

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