A single-center retrospective study of the factors affecting amelioration of herpes zoster-associated pain

Abstract

We investigated factors ameliorating pain in patients with zoster-associated pain (ZAP). We examined the characteristics and clinical courses of 130 ZAP patients. After 90 days from the start of pain management in our department, a reduction of 50％ in the numerical rating scale (NRS) was defined as very much improved, while less than 50％ was defined as pain non-improvement. Comparing the improvement and non-improvement groups revealed NRS at the initial visit to be significantly higher and the period from onset to visiting our department to be longer in the non-improvement group. Especially, the group that first visit more than 31days and had not previously received neuropathic pain treatment may be difficult to manage pain intensity. Therefore, the patients with intensive pain needed to be consult pain specialists until 30days from onset. If it cannot, neuropathic pain treatment would be better to start.