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.