BACKGROUND: Diagnosing neuritis in leprosy patients with neuropathic pain or chronic neuropathy remains challenging since no specific laboratory or neurophysiological marker is available.
METHODS: In a cross-sectional study developed at a leprosy outpatient clinic in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, 54 individuals complaining of neural pain (single or multiple sites) were classified into two groups ("neuropathic pain" or "neuritis") by a neurological specialist in leprosy based on anamnesis together with clinical and electrophysiological examinations. A neurologist, blind to the pain diagnoses, interviewed and examined the participants using a standardized form that included clinical predictors, pain features, and neurological symptoms. The association between the clinical predictors and pain classifications was evaluated via the Pearson Chi-Square or Fisher's exact test (p < 0.05).
RESULTS: Six clinical algorithms were generated to evaluate sensitivity and specificity, with 95% confidence intervals, for clinical predictors statistically associated with neuritis. The most conclusive clinical algorithm was: pain onset at any time during the previous 90 days, or in association with the initiation of neurological symptoms during the prior 30-day period, necessarily associated with the worsening of pain upon movement and nerve palpation, with 94% of specificity and 35% of sensitivity.
CONCLUSION: This algorithm could help physicians confirm neuritis in leprosy patients with neural pain, particularly in primary health care units with no access to neurologists or electrophysiological tests.
}, year = {2021}, journal = {BMC infectious diseases}, volume = {21}, pages = {858}, month = {08/2021}, issn = {1471-2334}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8381570/pdf/12879_2021_Article_6545.pdf}, doi = {10.1186/s12879-021-06545-2}, language = {eng}, }