The Problem of Pain in Lupus: Epidemiological Profiles of Patients Attending Multidisciplinary Pain Clinics.
Tiffany E Jiang, Alissa P Pascual, Nathan Le and 5 others
PMID 38494346WHAT IT FOUND
Among 1,319 patients with lupus, 60.8% had chronic overlapping pain conditions.
Only 77 attended a pain clinic; they were older, had more comorbidities, and were more likely to have mental health diagnoses.
Key findings
01In 1,319 patients with SLE, 60.8% had chronic overlapping pain conditions; chronic low back pain was 36.6% and fibromyalgia was 30.7%.
02Only 77 patients, 5.8% of the sample, had at least one pain clinic visit.
03Pain clinic patients had more mental health conditions (76.7% vs 42.4%) and higher mean Functional Comorbidity Index scores (6.0 vs 2.9) than patients not seen at pain clinics.
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 done at a single tertiary care hospital system and included mostly patients from high socioeconomic areas, so it may not represent people with lupus elsewhere. Race and ethnicity came from electronic health records, which may be inaccurate or oversimplified. It was a descriptive cross-sectional record review, so it can describe groups but cannot show why patients were referred to pain clinics or whether any care improved outcomes. The pain clinic group was only 77 patients, so comparisons with the non-pain clinic group may be imprecise.
Declared interests
The authors declare no competing interests. The article is marked as supported by NIH extramural research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that being referred to a pain clinic caused more comorbidities or mental health diagnoses. The study compared existing records at a single time point, so it shows association, not cause.