A prognostic score for postherpetic neuralgia in ambulatory patients

Meister, W; Neiss, A; Gross, Gerd; Doerr, H. W.; Höbel, W; Malin, J.‐P.; Essen, J von; Reimann, Birgit-Yvonne; Witke, C; Wutzler, Peter

doi:10.1007/bf02770836

Cited by 59 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The association between sex and risk of herpes zoster has been widely investigated. In some studies women appear to have an increased incidence of zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia [Hope-Simpson, 1975;Meister et al, 1998;Chidiac et al, 2001;Jung et al, 2004;Chapman et al, 2003]. However, Dworkin and Shmader [2001] did not find sex differences associated with the various aspect of herpes zoster, with the only exception of the intensity of acute pain which is higher in the female gender than in males, as also confirmed in a recent study [Volpi et al, 2007].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

No evidence of family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster in patients with post‐herpetic neuralgia

Gatti

Pica

Boccia

et al. 2010

Journal of Medical Virology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Little is known about reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus as herpes zoster in individuals with no underlying immunosuppression. Risk factors include age, sex, ethnicity, exogenous boosting of immunity from varicella contacts, underlying cell-mediated immune disorders, mechanical trauma, psychological stress, and immunotoxin exposure. An association between herpes zoster and family history of zoster has been proposed. A case-control study involving patients affected by post-herpetic neuralgia, which usually follows more severe acute herpes zoster, was performed. The patients with post-herpetic neuralgia were enrolled at the Pain Clinic of the Policlinico Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, within 1 year from the onset of acute zoster. The controls matched for sex and age were chosen among healthy subjects without a history of herpes zoster presenting at the Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic for hypertension in the same time period. All the participants in the study gave informed consent and were interviewed by medically trained and blinded investigators using a questionnaire. Similar proportions of the patients and the controls reported a family history of herpes zoster irrespective of the degree of relationship, i.e., 17.4% and 18.2%, respectively, by analyzing only the first-degree relatives [RR 1.03 (CI 95%: 0.78-1.37)], and 28.4% and 29.6%, respectively, by analyzing the total number of relatives [RR 1.03 (CI 95%: 0.81-1.31)]. Further and larger prospective cohort studies are needed to ascertain whether a family history of herpes zoster is really an independent predictor of zoster in different geographical settings.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

No evidence of family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster in patients with post‐herpetic neuralgia

Gatti

Pica

Boccia

et al. 2010

Journal of Medical Virology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Female gender and cranial or sacral locations were additional risk factors for persistent pain in one of these studies [20].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…In some studies, the best predictor of persistent pain after herpes zoster was the presence of severe prodromal pain or severe pain at presentation and old age [16][17][18][19][20]. Female gender and cranial or sacral locations were additional risk factors for persistent pain in one of these studies [20].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The efficacy of time-based short-course acyclovir therapy in treatment of post-herpetic pain

Rasi

Behzadi

Rabet

et al. 2010

J Infect Dev Ctries

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Various treatments have been used to manage post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). Safe and effective therapies to prevent PHN are needed. Methodology: A clinical trial involving 152 patients diagnosed with acute herpes Zoster (HZ) was conducted to determine whether shortcourse acyclovir therapy (800 mg five times a day for four days) can alleviate HZ-associated pain and prevent post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). The patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 had a rash with a duration of less than 72 hours and Group 2 had a rash with a duration of more than 72 hours. To assess PHN, the patients categorized and assessed the severity of their symptoms using a four-point verbal rating scale (VRS). Results: By the fourth week, 134 out of 152 patients (88.2%) had complete pain response (CPR). Of these, 68 patients (89.5%) were from Group 1 and 66 from Group 2 (86.8%). After four weeks, the mean VRS scores had changed significantly in both groups compared to the scores at the beginning of study (p = 0.001), but there was no difference between the two groups (0.88 ± 0.66 Vs. 0.94 ± 0.72; p = 0.66) After three months no differences were observed in the treatment results between the two groups (0.51 ± 0.13 Vs.0.54 ± 0.19; p = 0.77). Conclusion: Short-course acyclovir therapy is an effective treatment for zoster and its efficacy in patients with a rash duration of more than 72 hours is similar to that in patients with rash duration of less than 72 hours.

show abstract

“…The observation suggests that the reasonable period for diagnosing as PHN should be 4 weeks or longer. The rate of PHN widely ranges from 4.5% to 59% (6,(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14), and the duration of PHN varied from 1 to 12 months in the articles (6,(8)(9)(10)(11)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) (11) reported 59% had PHN for 3 months, and 28% for more than a year. Meister et al (13) described the incidence of PHN as 28% after 4-5 weeks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prognostic Factors of Postherpetic Neuralgia

Herr

2002

J Korean Med Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The investigation was aimed to determine prognostic factors related to postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), and treatment options for preventing PHN. The data showed 34 (17.0%) out of 188 patients with herpes zoster had severe pain after 4 weeks, and 22 (11.7%) after 8 weeks, compared with 109 (58.0%) at presentation. The age (≥50 yr), surface area involved (≥9%), and duration of severe pain (≥4 weeks) might be the main factors that lead to PHN. On the other hand, gender, dermatomal distribution, accompanied systemic conditions, and interval between initial pain and initiation of treatment might not be implicated in PHN. The subjects were orally received antiviral (valacyclovir), tricyclic antidepressant (amitriptyline), and analgesic (ibuprofen) as the standard treatment in the group 1. In addition to the standard medication, lidocaine solution was sub-and/or perilesionally injected in the group 2, while lidocaine plus prilocaine cream was topically applied to the skin lesions in the group 3. The rates of PHN in the 3 treatment groups were not significantly different, suggesting adjuvant anesthetics may not be helpful to reduce the severity of pain.

show abstract

A prognostic score for postherpetic neuralgia in ambulatory patients

Cited by 59 publications

References 13 publications

No evidence of family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster in patients with post‐herpetic neuralgia

No evidence of family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster in patients with post‐herpetic neuralgia

The efficacy of time-based short-course acyclovir therapy in treatment of post-herpetic pain

Prognostic Factors of Postherpetic Neuralgia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About