ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONAL DISABILITY OF UPPER LIMBS AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC CHIKUNGUNYA
Chikungunya virus. Arthralgia. Upper extremity. Health-related quality of life.
Chikungunya is an arbovirus transmitted by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and is the second most prevalent pathogen related to acute febrile illnesses in Latin America. Among the three possible phases of the disease (acute, subacute and chronic), the chronic phase occurs when arthralgia persists for more than 90 days. During this period, many individuals may present functional deficits in their upper limbs, compromising daily activities and affecting their quality of life. The aim of this study is to analyze functional disability of the upper limbs based on aspects related to quality of life in people with chikungunya in the chronic phase. This is a cross-sectional observational study with a quantitative approach, carried out in the municipality of Santa Cruz-RN, with 74 participants who had chronic chikungunya sequelae. Data collection took place between April and November 2023. The volunteers who met the inclusion criteria and signed the informed consent form were assessed using three instruments: a sociodemographic and health status questionnaire, developed by the study's researchers; the Short Form-36 (SF-36), to measure aspects of quality of life; and the Disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) instrument, with the aim of analyzing upper limb functional disability. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS), version 23. The descriptive analysis used measures of central tendency and dispersion for continuous variables, and absolute and relative frequencies for categorical variables. In addition, a multiple linear regression analysis was carried out with the aim of developing a model to verify which aspects of quality of life explain upper limb disability in people with chikungunya in the chronic phase, with a significance level of 5%. Pain, functional capacity and vitality were found to be significant predictors of upper limb functional disability in patients with chronic chikungunya. The estimated multiple linear regression model showed an R2 of 0.523, with satisfactory adjustment measures, indicating no multicollinearity. Thus, the results show that understanding upper limb functional disability based on the influence of aspects related to quality of life such as pain, functional capacity and vitality can help formulate specific health care strategies for the population with chikungunya in the chronic phase.