Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 1;34(3):288-303.
doi: 10.3344/kjp.2021.34.3.288.

Multicenter survey of symptoms, work life, economic status, and quality of life of complex regional pain syndrome patients

Jaemoon Lee  1 , Yun Hee Lim  2 , Sung Jun Hong  3 , Jae Hun Jeong  4 , Hey Ran Choi  5 , Sun Kyung Park  6 , Jung Eun Kim  7 , Eun Hi Park  1 , Jae Hun Kim  1
Affiliations

Multicenter survey of symptoms, work life, economic status, and quality of life of complex regional pain syndrome patients

Jaemoon Lee et al. Korean J Pain. .

Abstract

Background: Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is an intractable pain disease with various symptoms. Here, we investigated the disease status, work life, sleep problems, medical insurance, economic status, psychological problems, and quality of life (QOL) of CRPS patients.

Methods: CRPS patients from 37 university hospitals in South Korea were surveyed. The survey questionnaire consisted of 24 questions on the following aspects of CRPS patients: sex, age, occupation, cause of injury, activities of daily living (ADL), pain severity, sleep disturbance, level of education, economic status, therapeutic effect, and suicidal ideation. Additionally, the abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire, consisting of 26 questions, was used to identify the status of QOL.

Results: A total of 251 patients completed the questionnaire. According to the survey, 54.2% patients could not perform ADL on their own. Over the previous week, the mean pain score was 7.15 ± 1.78 (out of a total of 10 points); 92.1% of patients had sleep disorders and 80.5% had suicidal ideation, with most patients suffering from psychological problems. The average for each domain of WHOQOL-BREF was as follows: 21.74 ± 14.77 for physical, 25.22 ± 17.66 for psychological, 32.02 ± 22.36 for social relationship, and 30.69 ± 15.83 for environmental (out of a total of 100 points each). Occupation, ADL, sleep time, therapeutic effect, and suicidal ideation were statistically correlated with multiple domains.

Conclusions: Most patients had moderate to severe pain, economic problems, limitations of their ADL, sleep problems, psychological problems, and a low QOL score.

Keywords: Activities of Daily Living; Chronic Pain; Complex Regional Pain Syndromes; Economic Status; Educational Status; Intractable; Occupations; Pain; Quality of Life; Sleep Wake Disorders; Suicidal Ideation; Surveys and Questionnaires..

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Representation of data for occupational changes in patients before and after complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) outbreak.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Representation of data for time span for diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Representation of data for the degree of activity of daily living (ADL) of complex regional pain syndrome patients.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Representation of data for prevalence of sleep disturbance caused by pain in complex regional pain syndrome patients.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Representation of data for impact of complex regional pain syndrome on economic activities and economic difficulties among patients.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Representation of data for prevalence of suicidal ideation in complex regional pain syndrome patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Maihöfner C, Seifert F, Markovic K. Complex regional pain syndromes: new pathophysiological concepts and therapies. Eur J Neurol. 2010;17:649–60. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2010.02947.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chae WS, Kim SH, Cho SH, Lee JH, Lee MS. Reduction in mechanical allodynia in complex regional pain syndrome patients with ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency treatment of the superficial peroneal nerve. Korean J Pain. 2016;29:266–9. doi: 10.3344/kjp.2016.29.4.266. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jeon SG, Choi EJ, Lee PB, Lee YJ, Kim MS, Seo JH, et al. Do severity score and skin temperature asymmetry correlate with the subjective pain score in the patients with complex regional pain syndrome? Korean J Pain. 2014;27:339–44. doi: 10.3344/kjp.2014.27.4.339. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shin NY, Kang DH, Jang JH, Park SY, Hwang JY, Kim SN, et al. Impaired recognition of social emotion in patients with complex regional pain syndrome. J Pain. 2013;14:1304–9. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2013.05.008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Marinus J, Van Hilten JJ. Clinical expression profiles of complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia and a-specific repetitive strain injury: more common denominators than pain? Disabil Rehabil. 2006;28:351–62. doi: 10.1080/09638280500287320. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources