Pain characteristics in Italian people with spinal cord injury: a multicentre study

Study design: Multicentre cross-sectional study. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate prevalence, location and characteristics of pain in hospital inpatients people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Ten Italian rehabilitation centres specialized in spinal injury care, where inpatients are admitted both after the acute lesion and for late complications (time since injury, median [IQR]: 0.8 [0.2–8.2] years). Methods: All the persons were submitted to AIS scale assessment [<xref ref-type="bibr">1</xref>] and modified Ashworth scale [<xref ref-type="bibr">2</xref>]; personal data and anamnesis were recorded; any pain within 1 week was investigated and the International Spinal Cord Injury Pain Basic Data Set (ISCIPBDS) Italian version [<xref ref-type="bibr">3</xref>] was administered by physicians expert in type of pain definition. Results: Of 385 included persons, 275 (72%) suffered pain, with the score value median [IQR]: 6 [4–8]. The worst pain of the person was nociceptive in 52% and neuropathic in 48% of the cases; 46% of nociceptive pain was located in the neck–shoulder region, whereas 67% of neuropathic pain was located in the sublesional part of the body. In 48% of the whole population, spasticity was observed but only 74% of them had pain. Being old and female are associated with high pain development, OR (95% CI): 1.24 (1.01–1.04) and 1.83 (1.05–3.20), respectively. Conclusions: A high prevalence of pain is confirmed in persons with SCI, with both nociceptive and neuropathic pain characteristics. Only old age and female sex resulted as variables highly associated with pain.