Use of First-Line Oral Analgesics during and after COVID-19: Results from a Survey on a Sample of Italian 696 COVID-19 Survivors with Post-Acute Symptoms

Highlights What are the main findings of the study? The most-used pain medication during COVID-19 is acetaminophen. The most common analgesics used in post-COVID-19 are acetaminophen, ibuprofen or other NSAID, while older subjects prefer acetaminophen. The frequency of pain medication is often several times a week. What is the implication of the main findings? The need to continue analgesic therapy after COVID-19 is associated with persistent arthralgia and myalgia. Most patients report an improvement in pain perception after taking analgesic therapy. Abstract Background—Analgesics could be used to manage painful symptoms during and after COVID-19. Materials and methods—Persistence of painful symptoms was assessed during and after COVID-19 in a sample of patients admitted to a post-acute COVID-19 outpatient service in Rome, Italy. Data on type and frequency of use of first-line analgesics were collected. Pain severity was evaluated with a numeric rating scale (NRS) from 0 to 10. Results—Mean age of 696 participants was 57.1 ± 20.3 years and 61.7% were women. During COVID-19, the most prevalent symptoms were fever, fatigue, arthralgia, myalgia and headache. Acetaminophen was used by 40% of the sample. Only 6.7% needed to continue analgesic therapy after COVID-19. Frequent causes of analgesics consumption were persistent arthralgia and myalgia. The most common analgesics used amongst those who continued taking analgesics in the post-acute phase of COVID-19 were the following: acetaminophen (31%), ibuprofen (31%) and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) (29.5%); in older subjects the most common analgesic used was acetaminophen (54%). Most of the subjects in this group said there was an improvement in pain perception after taking analgesic therapy (84%). Conclusions—Use of analgesics in the post-acute COVID-19 is common in subjects with persistent arthralgia and myalgia, and common analgesics were acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Further research on the safety and efficacy of those medications in COVID-19 is warranted.