Prevalence of neuropathic pain in emergency patients: an observational study

Neuropathic pain (NP) in acute conditions has been poorly investigated. A diagnostic score, the DN4 scale (DN4), has been developed to help physicians to detect and treat NP appropriately. DN4 is a 10-item questionnaire. If you have 4 or more positive responses out of 10 items, the answer to the questionnaire is positive and you have a neuropathic pain. We aimed to determine the prevalence of NP in emergency department (ED) patients and to describe this population.

We used the DN4 in the patients with NP visiting the adult ED of a university hospital. Patients were asked about the characteristics of their pain using a face-to-face questionnaire.

Among 533 patients with a DN4 score, 114 (21.4%) had NP. Neuropathic pain was independently negatively associated with age of 65 years of older (odds ratio [OR], 0.2, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.05-0.8) and positively associated with intense pain (OR, 5.2; 95% CI, 1.5-18.2), located to the limbs (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2-4.0).

Neuropathic pain was common in ED patients and associated to a higher level of pain.