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Multicenter Study
. 2018 Jul 13:85:62-68.
doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.04.007. Epub 2018 Apr 17.

Self-reported pain in patients with schizophrenia. Results from the national first-step FACE-SZ cohort

Guillaume Fond  1 , Laurent Boyer  2 , Meja Andrianarisoa  3 , Ophelia Godin  4 , Ewa Bulzacka  3 , Fabrice Berna  5 , Lore Brunel  3 , Nathalie Coulon  3 , Bruno Aouizerate  6 , Delphine Capdevielle  7 , Isabelle Chereau  8 , Thierry D'amato  9 , Hélène Denizot  8 , Caroline Dubertret  10 , Julien Dubreucq  11 , Catherine Faget  12 , Sylvain Leignier  11 , Jasmina Mallet  10 , David Misdrahi  13 , Romain Rey  9 , Christophe Lancon  12 , Christine Passerieux  14 , Aurélie Schandrin  7 , Mathieu Urbach  14 , Pierre Vidailhet  5 , Marion Leboyer  3 , Franck Schurhoff  3 , Pierre-Michel Llorca  8 ; FACE-SZ (FondaMental Academic Centers of Expertise for Schizophrenia) group
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Self-reported pain in patients with schizophrenia. Results from the national first-step FACE-SZ cohort

Guillaume Fond et al. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Introduction: Little is known about perception of physical pain in schizophrenia (SZ). Some studies have suggested that patients with SZ may have an increased pain threshold, while others have suggested that patients with SZ may suffer from undetected and untreated high physical pain levels. The objectives of this study were (i) to investigate the prevalence of self-reported physical pain in stabilized SZ subjects, and (ii) to determine whether physical pain was associated with psychiatric characteristics and somatic comorbidities (iii) to determine whether antidepressants and benzodiazepine administration were associated with lower self-reported pain.

Method: 468 community-dwelling stable SZ subjects (73% men, mean aged 32 years) were recruited in the Schizophrenia Expert Center national network. Patients with moderate to extreme pain, assessed with the EQ5D-5L questionnaire, were classified as belonging to the "pain group".

Results: 104 (22.2%) reported moderate to extreme pain levels. In multivariate analysis, pain has been associated with headache (OR = 2.63 [1.04-6.63], p = 0.04), higher anxiety (OR = 1.61 [1.18-2.21], p = 0.003), higher current depressive symptoms (OR = 1.09 [1.01-1.17], p = 0.03), history of childhood trauma (1.03 [1.01-1.06], p = 0.01) and older age (OR = 1.04 [1.01-1.07], p = 0.03), independently of current psychotic severity, sociodemographic variables, antipsychotic, antidepressant and benzodiazepine treatments. No association with addictive behaviors or illness characteristics has been found.

Conclusion: The present findings suggest that community-dwelling SZ outpatients report a high rate of self-reported physical pain, associated with headache, depression and anxiety and history of childhood trauma. Physical pain should be systematically assessed and specifically treated, when needed, in patients with SZ.

Keywords: Anxiety; Childhood trauma; Depression; Headache; Physical pain; Schizophrenia.

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