Prevalence of neuropathic pain in emergency patients: an observational study.

OBJECTIVE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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). CONCLUSION: Neuropathic pain was common in ED patients and associated to a higher level of pain.