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Neuropathic Pain in the Eyes, Body, and Mouth: Insights from the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance
Author(s) -
Gebreegziabher Elisabeth A.,
Bunya Vatinee Y.,
Baer Alan N.,
Jordan Richard C.,
Akpek Esen K.,
RoseNussbaumer Jennifer,
Criswell Lindsey A.,
Shiboski Caroline H.,
Lietman Thomas M.,
Gonzales John A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
pain practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1533-2500
pISSN - 1530-7085
DOI - 10.1111/papr.13000
Subject(s) - medicine , neuropathic pain , rheumatism , fibromyalgia , physical therapy , visual analogue scale , rheumatology , depression (economics) , dermatology , anesthesia , economics , macroeconomics
Objective To evaluate how ocular, oral, and bodily neuropathic pain symptoms, which characterize small fiber neuropathies, are associated with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) classification based on the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) criteria. Methods Participants enrolled in the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) registry had ocular, rheumatologic, oral, and labial salivary gland (LSG) biopsy examinations, blood and saliva samples collected, and completed questionnaires at baseline. We used mixed effects modeling with age, country, gender, and depression being fixed effects and study site, a random effect, to determine if neuropathic pain indicators (assessed via questionnaires) were associated with being classified as SS. Results A total of 3,514 participants were enrolled into SICCA, with 1,541 (52.9%) meeting the 2016 ACR/EULAR classification criteria for SS. There was a negative association between being classified as SS and experiencing bodily neuropathic pain features of needle‐like pain, prickling/tingling sensation, ocular neuropathic pain of constant burning, and constant light sensitivity, and having a presumptive diagnosis of neuropathic oral pain. Conclusions We found that those classified as SS had lower scores/reports of painful neuropathies compared with those classified as non‐SS. Non‐SS patients with dry eye disease or symptoms could benefit from pain assessment as they may experience painful small‐fiber neuropathies (SFNs). Pain questionnaires may help identify pain associated with SFNs in patients with SS and non‐SS dry eye. Future studies would be helpful to correlate self‐reports of pain to objective measures of SFNs in those with SS, non‐SS dry eye, and healthy controls.