European journal of pain : EJP
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Health-related quality of life and its predictive role for analgesic effect in patients with painful polyneuropathy.
Painful polyneuropathy is a common neuropathic pain condition. The present study describes health-related quality of life (HRQL) in a sample of patients with painful polyneuropathy of different origin and the possible predictive role of HRQL for analgesic effect. Ninety-three patients with a diagnosis of painful polyneuropathy were included in the analysis. ⋯ General health (GH) and vitality (VT) were improved under treatment with imipramine (GH: p=0.006, VT: p=0.015). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, baseline SF-36 scores predicted subsequent response to pharmacological treatment. Results show an impaired HRQL in painful polyneuropathy and suggest that HRQL may predict response to analgesic treatment.