Relationship of Pain Quality Descriptors and Quantitative Sensory Testing: Sickle Cell Disease.
Brenda W Dyal, Miriam O Ezenwa, Saunjoo L Yoon and 7 others
PMID 31283720WHAT IT FOUND
Five pain descriptors (aching, beating, cold, spreading, throbbing) distinguished adults with sickle cell disease who had central sensitization from those with normal sensation.
Other neuropathic and nociceptive word groups did not differentiate the groups.
Key findings
01Five specific sensory pain quality descriptors differed significantly by quantitative sensory testing classification.
02Participants classified with central or mixed sensitization selected 'cold' and 'spreading' more often than those with normal sensation.
03Participants classified with central or mixed sensitization selected 'throbbing' and 'beating' more often than those with normal sensation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was exploratory and did not adjust for multiple comparisons, which increases the risk of finding false positives. The sample had very few participants with isolated peripheral sensitization, so the findings cannot be generalized to that specific pain mechanism. The analysis focused on ascending nerve fibers and did not include dynamic QST measures like conditioned pain modulation. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if the pain descriptors caused the sensitization or vice versa.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that all neuropathic pain descriptors are useful for screening. While five specific words differentiated sensitized patients, the broader groups of neuropathic and nociceptive descriptors did not show significant differences between the QST classification groups.