Epidemiology of pain in spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND: The original Pain syndrome in spinal cord injury, which by its nature is one of the most severe and debilitating conditions, can lead to a deterioration in the quality of life, depression, sleep disorders and, as a consequence, a decrease in the results of rehabilitation treatment. This article will present epidemiological data of pain syndrome in spinal cord injury.

AIM: To study the structure and features of pain syndrome in patients with spinal cord injury.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The clinical data on a sample of patients with pain syndrome in spinal cord injury are analyzed (n = 75). The study group was represented by male patients (100%), whose average age was 36 years, undergoing inpatient treatment on the basis of the National Medical Research Center for High Medical Technologies — A.A. Vishnevsky Central Military Clinical Hospital, Ministry of Defense, Russia. The analysis of pain syndrome in this cohort was carried out on 8 indicators at once: neurological level of injury, localization of pain, intensity of pain, motor neurological deficit, degree of damage to the anatomical integrity of the spinal cord, the presence of a neuropathic component, the type of pain syndrome and characteristic pain descriptors.

RESULTS: According to the classification of pain in spinal cord injury, proposed by an international consensus of clinicians and researchers, the prevalence of various types of pain among the study group was presented as follows: neuropathic — 64%, nociceptive — 32, dysfunctional — 4%. Analyzing various subtypes of neuropathic pain, pain below the injury level dominated — 72%.

CONCLUSION: The most common and difficult to stop variant in the structure of pain syndrome in patients with spinal cord injury is neuropathic pain.