Patient expectations in the treatment of painful diabetic polyneuropathy: results from a non-interventional study

Pain control is the main objective when treating patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP). However, DPNP is associated with further substantial patient burden that often is not appropriately addressed. Our study identified patients' needs and asked patients what they expected from DPNP treatment.

Baseline data were collected in a German prospective, non-interventional study in patients with DPNP starting or switching pain medication at the discretion of the investigator. DPNP severity was evaluated using Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and Clinician/Patient Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S/PGI-S). Primary objective of this study was to evaluate for which interference item of the BPI DPNP patients expected most to improve due to DPNP therapy.

We enrolled 2,576 patients with DPNP from 307 outpatient centers (mean [standard deviation {SD}] age: 65.8 years [11.5], 51.2% female). Mean (SD) CGI-S and PGI-S at baseline were 4.4 (0.91) and 4.5 (1.05), respectively. BPI average pain score was 5.1 (2.04). The BPI interference score was 4.8 (2.18); items most impaired at baseline were walking ability 5.5 (2.60) and general activity 5.4 (2.37). The most frequently chosen BPI interference items expected to improve as a result of the pain treatment were: General activity (29.3%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 27.5-31.0%) and walking ability (24.4%; 95% CI 22.8-26.1%), followed by sleep (14.7%), enjoyment of life (13.6%), mood (8.3%), normal work (7.7%), and relations with other people (1.9%).

The majority of patients identified "general activity" and "walking ability" as most relevant BPI interference items for which they expect improvement from DPNP treatment.