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Increased multiple sclerosis relapses related to lower prevalence of pain
José Vinícius Martins da Silva1, Beatriz Fátima Alves de Oliveira2, Osvaldo José Moreira do Nascimento1
1Centro de Pesquisas Clínicas em Neurologia/Neurociência, Departamento de Neurologia, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niteroi, RJ, Brazil.
Objective:
The study aims to investigate the presence of pain amongst multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.
Method:
One hundred MS patients responded to questionnaires evaluating neuropathic and nociceptive pain, depression and anxiety. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U, Chi-Square and two-tailed Fisher's exact tests and multivariate logistic regression.
Results:
Women had a statistically higher prevalence of pain (p = 0.037), and chances of having pain after the age of 50 reduced. Women with pain had a statistically significant lower number of relapses (p = 0.003), restricting analysis to those patients with more than one relapse. After the second relapse, each relapse reduced the chance of having pain by 46%. Presence of pain was independent of Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) anxiety, and depression.
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest a strong inverse association between relapses and pain indicating a possible protective role of focal inflammation in the control of pain.
