Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Individuals with Fibromyalgia - a Systematic Scoping Review Protocol

Abstract

Objective: The objectives of this review are to systematically search databases and identify studies that examined the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on symptomatology of adults who had fibromyalgia prior to the pandemic, in order to map the existing knowledge and identify knowledge gaps. Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people worldwide in multiple ways. Some suffered infection of varying severity and many experienced stressors associated with quarantine restrictions, lockdowns, and the consequences of social distancing. An initial literature search indicates that the pandemic had different and sometime contradicting effects on individuals with fibromyalgia; while some people experienced worsening of symptoms, others reported symptom relief because of the reduced pace and demands of daily life. Inclusion criteria: Any studies that explored the experience of adults with fibromyalgia syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will review only studies with participants who were diagnosed with fibromyalgia prior to the pandemic. Methods: Following a pilot search, we developed a full search strategy for Medline, Embase, CINAHL and PsycInfo. The reference list of all included sources of evidence will be screened for additional studies. Sources of unpublished studies to be searched: clinical trial.gov, OPENGREY.EU and MedRxiv. Studies in any language will be included. Abstracts will be screened for inclusion by two reviewers. Similarly, two independent reviewers will systematically extract the data from the included articles. Disagreements in any stage will be resolved through consensus. The results will be presented in tables and will be accompanied by a narrative analysis.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

The study is supported by The Louise and Alan Edwards Foundation, Clinical Research Fellowship Grant 2021-2022, and the Israeli Society for Musculoskeletal Medicine 2021 research grant (to T.S.). MG Page is a Junior 1 research scholar from the Fonds de recherche du Quebec Sante.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.

Yes

Data Availability

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors

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