Occurrence and characterization of Pain in immune‐mediated neuropathies: a multicentre prospective study

Background:  Pain is a common symptom of peripheral neuropathies that may severely affect patients’ Quality of Life. Pain questionnaires, based on verbal descriptors, are a useful way to investigate it. Methods:  We performed a multicentre study through validated measures to characterize pain in a sample of consecutive patients affected by immune‐mediated neuropathies. Results:  Ninety‐three patients were enrolled in 16 Italian centres. Based on the numeric rating scale, almost half of the patients complained of moderate pain and one‐third of the patients severe pain. Overall, up to 50% of our patients with immune‐mediated neuropathies complained of neuropathic pain. The most common neuropathic symptoms were paraesthesia/dysesthesia and superficial spontaneous pain. Surprisingly, also patients with neuropathies commonly thought to be painless (such as multifocal motor neuropathy) reported discomfort and painful symptoms. Conclusions:  Pain questionnaires should be considered in the clinical evaluation of immune‐mediated neuropathies, also when evaluating therapy efficacy, because they may provide clinicians with useful information on painful symptoms and patients’ quality of life.