The COVID-19 pandemic has generated changes across the world, one of which is social distancing. Even with some impacts still unknown, studies have been pointing to damage to the health of several populations. In this sense, the consequences resulting from the pandemic can be identified in the female population, especially in those with rheumatic diseases, since people with chronic diseases had a worse state of general health and well-being, in addition to the difficulty in maintaining therapeutic follow-up during the pandemic and a possible exacerbating effect of their symptoms.

The aim of this study was to evaluate fatigue and mental health aspects (depression, anxiety, and depression and anxiety together) in women with rheumatic diseases and without rheumatic diseases in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a longitudinal observational study carried out in 2020 and 2021 using an online questionnaire. The study included women with and without rheumatic diseases, aged 18 to 65 years, Brazilians who were residing in Brazil. These should respond to an online questionnaire on the Google Forms platform, which included the Fatigue Severity Scale and the Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale. Data were analyzed descriptively. The groups were compared using the Chi-square test (categorical variables) and the Mann Whitney test (quantitative variables with non-normal distribution in the Kolmogorov Smirnov test). For the intragroup analysis with rheumatic diseases, the chi-square test was used. All analyzes were performed using IBM SPSS software, version 25.0, adopting a significance level of 5%.

Six hundred and fifty women (n= 400 SDR; n= 250 CDR) participated in the study. The group with rheumatic diseases had worse results in fatigue and mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression and associated anxiety and depression) when compared to the group without this condition (p<0.01). Among the group of women with rheumatic diseases, fibromyalgia was the disease that presented the worst results for the outcomes of mental health aspects (p<0.01).

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, women with rheumatic diseases experienced symptoms of fatigue and compromised aspects of mental health when compared to women without this condition. Among those who had some disease, women with fibromyalgia were the most affected in the period evaluated.

The study demonstrates the need for intervention programs focused on biopsychosocial aspects and the search for self-management strategies in the CDR population. These strategies could aim to minimize the impacts arising from future emergency public health situations, causing managers to promote public policies of comprehensive health care, including the physiotherapy professional to integrate more multidisciplinary teams with a focus on multiple health areas of individuals with chronic illnesses.