Statement of problem

Although psychological disorders have been established as one of the etiological factors for temporomandibular disorders, anxiety levels in individuals with masticatory muscle pain before and during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have not previously been compared.

Purpose

The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate anxiety levels in patients with masticatory muscle pain at times before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and methods

Eighty patients (18 to 68 years) with masticatory muscle pain were included in the study. All participants had completed the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 questionnaire (GAD-7) before the first COVID-19 infection had been reported in Turkey. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all participants were contacted by telephone to repeat the GAD-7 to evaluate changes in their psychology during the first lockdown. However, 18 of the 80 patients were unreachable. A statistical analysis was performed by using the Mann-Whitney U test. Proportion comparisons between sociodemographic characteristics and GAD-7 levels were performed by using the Fisher exact test (α=.05).

Results

Forty-eight (60%) of the study population were women, and 32 (40%) were men, with a mean age ±standard deviation of 36.63 ±13.85 years. Both before and during the pandemic, GAD-7 scores were statistically similar as was each demographic parameter, including sex, educational status, and occupational status (P>.05). Also, no significant correlation was recorded between age and GAD-7 global scores obtained before and during the pandemic (r=-0.098 and r=-0.052, respectively, P>.05). However, during-pandemic GAD-7 scores were statistically higher than before-pandemic GAD-7 scores (P<.001).

Conclusions

Demographic parameters had no connection with anxiety levels in patients with masticatory muscle pain before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the COVID-19 pandemic anxiety levels in the participants were higher than the levels before the pandemic.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19大流行对咀嚼肌疼痛患者焦虑的影响

问题陈述

尽管心理障碍已被确定为颞下颌关节紊乱病的病因之一，但此前尚未对 2019 年冠状病毒 (COVID-19) 大流行之前和期间出现咀嚼肌疼痛的个体的焦虑水平进行比较。

目的

本临床研究的目的是评估在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间出现咀嚼肌疼痛的患者的焦虑水平。

材料与方法

该研究纳入了 80 名患有咀嚼肌疼痛的患者（18 至 68 岁）。在土耳其报告首例 COVID-19 感染之前，所有参与者均已完成广泛性焦虑症 7 问卷 (GAD-7)。COVID-19 大流行爆发后，我们通过电话联系所有参与者重复 GAD-7，以评估他们在第一次封锁期间的心理变化。然而，80 名患者中有 18 名无法联系到。使用Mann-Whitney U 检验进行统计分析。使用 Fisher 精确检验 (α=.05) 进行社会人口统计学特征和 GAD-7 水平之间的比例比较。

结果

研究人群中有 48 名 (60%) 为女性，32 名 (40%) 为男性，平均年龄±标准差为 36.63 ±13.85 岁。在大流行之前和期间，GAD-7 评分在统计上相似，每个人口参数（包括性别、教育状况和职业状况）也相似 ( P >.05)。此外，年龄与大流行之前和期间获得的 GAD-7 总体评分之间没有记录显着相关性（分别为 r=-0.098 和 r=-0.052，P >.05）。然而，大流行期间的 GAD-7 评分在统计上高于大流行之前的 GAD-7 评分 ( P <.001)。

结论

在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间，人口统计参数与咀嚼肌疼痛患者的焦虑水平没有关系。然而，参与者对 COVID-19 大流行的焦虑水平高于大流行前的水平。