Pain In Multiple Sclerosis Patients

The aim of this section study is to determine prevalence of pain based on its type, intensity, quality, pain location, therapy treatment, and the impact it makes on multiple sclerosis (MS) patient’s everyday activities. Besides pain characteristics, demographic and clinical parameters have been also analyzed. The study included 87 patients diagnosed with definite MS according to McDonald’s criteria, ranging in age from 17 to 60, EDSS below 8.0, and with absence of relapse. Excluding criteria were: disease exacerbation during previous month period, chronicle diseases, psychiatric diseases previously verified, and corticosteroid therapy in the course of the previous month period The research made use of the following scales: Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for assessment of intensity of the pain. Results indicated high prevalence of pain in MS patients, from 60.9% to 87.4%, depending on the type of pain. In patients with pain the most frequent was intermittent neuropathic pain of 77%. Most frequently the pain was felt in legs, 47.8%. VAS medium score was 3.9+/-SD2.6%. A group representing 36.2% of patients stated that the pain interfered moderately with their everyday activities, and 33.3% of patients stated that the pain interfered severely with their everyday activities. Patients mostly take medicaments for pain once or few times a month (43, 2%). Special efforts should be directed to discovery and treatment of the pain, which would result in better forecast and quality of life.