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Título

THE INFLUENCE OF THE USE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT ON PREVIOUS HEADACHES OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS EXPOSED TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

Resumo

INTRODUCTION: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) has become indispensable for the safety. However, the impact of PPE use on previously diagnosed headaches of healthcare professionals is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influence of the use of PPE on previous headaches of health professionals exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: This was a non-interventional, quantitative, observational, and cross-sectional study. Thus, the Snowball method was used for recruitment and an online questionnaire was applied to the participants. In addition, the Kolmogorov-Smirnoff test was used to define data normality and Fisher’s exact test served to correlate categorical variables. Headaches were classified according to diagnostic criteria present in the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3). RESULTS: The study showed that 20.6% of the participants had headaches diagnosed before, of which 70% had migraine headaches and 30% had tension-type headaches. Previous headaches, which are more common in women, had a significant difference between genders (p<0.001). The difference between the types of headaches presented was not significant (p=0.5698). Most professionals (67.5%) had changes in the pain pattern when using PPE during the pandemic, of which 45% had migraine and 22.5% had tension-type headaches, with no statistically significant difference between the change in the pattern and the classification (p=0.7158). The increased frequency of crises was the main alteration mentioned by 60% of the professionals with previous headaches, although there was no statistical significance (p=0.9899). Furthermore, 40% of the professionals with previous headaches reported an increase in the duration of the crises, without statistical significance (p=4898). The analysis of the participants’ perception, who reported an increase in the frequency of crises, regarding the relationship between the types of PPE and this change showed statistical significance (p<0.040) for the use of masks. There was also statistical significance in the perception of the relationship between increased crisis duration and each type of PPE (p=0.0402). CONCLUSION: A change was observed in most patients who reported previous headaches, in the pattern of crises, in terms of pain and frequency, with the use of PPE during the pandemic. Most patients considered the association between the types of PPE and these changes as very likely.

Palavras Chave

Headaches, personal protective equipment, COVID-19 pandemic