Pain intensity, pain interference and characteristics of spinal cord injury

Abstract

Study Design: Postal survey. Objectives: To examine if the intensity of pain in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) varied as a function of pain site, and to identify the patient and SCI characteristics associated with pain location, pain intensity and pain interference in a sample of persons with SCI. Setting: Community sample, United States. Methods: A postal survey including measures of pain intensity, pain interference, other pain, demographic and medical characteristics was completed by 238 adults with SCI. Results: Average pain intensity was moderate and pain was common across the body. Demographic and medical variables, including SCI level, were generally not associated with pain prevalence, intensity and interference. However, persons with higher level injuries were more likely to report upper extremity pain than persons with paraplegic injuries. The lower body was the location of the highest pain ratings. Conclusion: Persons with SCI tend to experience high pain intensity over multiple body locations. Lower body pain was as common as upper extremity pain, but tended to be more intense.

Effects of chronic pain on quality of life and depression in patients with spinal cord injury

“…4,22,23 In addition, SCI characteristics such as age at SCI, duration after SCI and completeness of injury were not related to pain ratings. 8 It has been shown that incomplete spinal injuries were more likely to result in pain than complete injuries, whereas no significant association between the severity of pain and completeness of injury was found. 4 Similarly, other than the completeness of injury and employment status, we could not find any significant demographic variable to be in association with pain intensity.…”

“…For many of them, the pain is severe and accompanied by reduced physical functioning, eventually lowering the QoL. 8 Further, chronic pain and psychological disorders are closely related, affecting physical and psychosocial functioning. Likewise, studies show that an important proportion of SCI patients are depressed when compared with healthy subjects.…”

Qualidade de vida de adultos com lesão medular: um estudo com WHOQOL-bref

“…This situati on does not contribute to the rehabilitati on of SCI pati ents, as sports, physical exercise and leisure are fundamental for this goal. Sports permits the development of physical and psychological aspects, enhances independence and broadens treatment and socializati on alternati ves (20) . This phenomenon was identi fi ed in a study (21) developed in Canada, in a sample of 90 SCI pati ents, which associated sports practi ce, community integrati on and QoL.…”

“…Parti ciparon 47 sujetos con media etaria de 42,95 años, 91,5% de sexo masculino y 8,5% femenino. Los dominios obtuvieron estos puntajes: fí sico (58,59), psicológico (63,82), social (68,82) y ambiental (55,20). Mediante regresión lineal múlti ple, se verifi có la correlación de los puntajes de los dominios con la percepción de la QV: fí sico (p<0,187), psicológico (p<0,399), social (p<0,000) y ambiental (p<0,008).…”

Neuropathic pain in patients with spinal cord injury: report of 213 patients

“…Vall et al 16 , in a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 109 patients with SCI, reported that most individuals affected were male, younger than 40 years, with incomplete lesions; these results were also not statistically different. Ullrich et al 17 did not find any correlation between pain prevalence and demographic and medical variables.…”