The following is a summary of the “A Comparison of Self-reported Pain Measures Between Sensory Phenotypes in HIV-associated Sensory Neuropathy,” published in the January 2023 issue of Pain Management by Kemp, et al.

HIV-SN, or HIV-associated painful neuropathy, is a common complication of HIV infection. Sensory phenotyping employing quantitative sensory testing (QST) may be useful to stratify patients better and direct them toward individualized treatment. Yet, traditional QST interpretation methods have shown a weak correlation with patient-reported pain levels. Therefore, this research aimed to determine if people who reported chronic pain from many sites and/or different causes also reported different levels of pain intensity when asked about it using self-report measures. 

Clinical assessment and nerve conduction testing were used to assign patients with HIV (n = 133) to neuropathy and neuropathic pain groups in this cross-sectional observational study. They filled out symptom-focused questionnaires and went through standardized QST. QST-derived sensory phenotypes were randomly assigned to participants. Several sensory phenotypes were compared in terms of their symptoms. Features of Symptoms and Neuropathic Pain There were significant differences in Symptom Inventory scores between the QST-derived sensory phenotypes, with ‘sensory loss’ being linked to greater paroxysmal and paraesthetic symptoms than ‘thermal hyperalgesia’ and ‘healthy’ phenotypes (P =.023-0.001). 

Patients with both severe HIV-SN and another chronic pain diagnosis were more likely to be classified as having the ‘mechanical hyperalgesia’ phenotype (P =.006). According to this research, patients with HIV have various sensory characteristics. The possibility for self-reported differences in pain outcomes amongst sensory phenotypes has the potential to lead to future stratified studies and, ultimately, more tailored medication. This article compares self-reported pain indices in patients with HIV infection to phenotypes generated through quantitative sensory testing, which are assumed to reflect different pathophysiological pain causes. If this is the case, it could aid clinicians in patient stratification for improved individualized analgesic treatments.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1526590022004035