Assessment of chronic pain in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury

Abstract

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to assess chronic pain in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) using the West Haven Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory Spinal Cord Injury (WHYMPI-SCI) version pain inventory. Moreover, we examined the effects of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics on chronic pain. Material and Methods: Forty-four inpatient traumatic SCI patients aged ≥18 years and with pain continuing for ≥6 months were included in this cross-sectional study. Pain was assessed using the two parts: “pain impact” and “responses by significant others” of the WHYMPI-SCI version. Results: ‘Support’ scores were shown to increase with increasing age of patients and age at the time of traumatic SCI (p=0.038, p=0.004, respectively). Tetraplegic patients showed higher scores compared to paraplegic patients for ‘affective distress’ and ‘negative responses’ from caregivers (p=0.047, p=0.013, respectively). ‘Support’ and ‘distracting responses’ values were higher in incomplete patients (p=0.014, p=0.007, respectively). Conclusion: This study details the assessment of chronic pain multidimensionally and reveals that it affects daily living activities negatively. In particular, determining the characteristics of pain in older and more functionally dependent patients with SCI may guide the design of multidisciplinary treatment approaches and facilitate an early transition into social life.