Masticatory Functionality in Post-Acute-COVID-Syndrome (PACS) Patients with and without Sarcopenia

Bruno Davide Pugliese ¹

Giovanna Garuti ¹

Lucia Bergamini ¹

Riccardo Karim Khamaisi ²

Giovanni Guaraldi ³

Ugo Consolo ¹

Pierantonio Bellini ¹

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Unit of Dentistry & Oral-Maxillo-Facial Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medicine, Dentistry and Morphological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy |

Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy |

Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Surgery, Medicine, Dentistry and Morphological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2023-02-03

MDPI

Journal: Oral

SJR: —

CiteScore: —

Impact factor: —

ISSN: 26736373

DOI: 10.3390/oral3010008

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General Medicine

Abstract

Musculoskeletal symptoms are common in both acute COVID-19 disease and post-acute sequelae (Post-Acute COVID Syndrome). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there are reduced levels of masticatory function in patients with PACS (Post Acute COVID Syndrome) who suffer from sarcopenia, under the hypothesis that the latter may also involve the masticatory muscles. This study includes 23 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between February 2020 and April 2021 and currently suffering from PACS. Among these PACS patients, 13/23 (56%) suffer from sarcopenia, 5/23 (22%) complain of asthenia but do not suffer from sarcopenia and the remaining 5/23 (22%) do not present muscle symptoms (non-asthenic non-sarcopenic). Oral health indices of all patients were collected. The masticatory strength was assessed with a gnathodynamometer based on piezoresistive sensors, and the masticatory effectiveness was measured by administering the “chewing gum mixing ability test” by having patients perform 20 masticatory cycles on a two-color chewing gum and analyzing the outcome through the ViewGum© software. Moreover, we gathered data with a hand grip test and gait speed test. The data collected in this study show that PACS sarcopenic patients have decreased masticatory effectiveness and strength compared to PACS asthenic non-sarcopenic patients and PACS non-asthenic non-sarcopenic patients.