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
. 2023 Oct 2:16:3309-3318.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S417454. eCollection 2023.

Analysis of the Risk Factors for Mechanical Allodynia in Herpetic Neuralgia: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Gang Xu  1   2 , Weiwei Gong  2   3 , Shihong Dong  2 , Guojiong Hu  2   4 , Weizhen Tang  1 , Hecheng Yu  1
Affiliations

Analysis of the Risk Factors for Mechanical Allodynia in Herpetic Neuralgia: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Gang Xu et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Purpose: Mechanical allodynia is reportedly common during herpetic neuralgia. The purpose of this study was to establish a risk prediction model to predict the individual risk of allodynia in herpetic neuralgia.

Methods: Three hundred and eighty-six patients with trunk herpetic neuralgia were divided into two regions, T2-5 and T6-11. The causality between allodynia and other factors was analyzed by a binary logistic regression model.

Results: 42.2% of subjects had allodynia, 137 suffered from dynamic allodynia, and 110 with dynamic allodynia experienced local sweating. The following 5 items as predictors determined this model: local sweating (Odd Ratio = 27.57, P<0.001), lesion location (Odd Ratio=2.46, P =0.017), pain intensity (Odd Ratio=1.38, P =0.020), pain duration (Odd Ratio=0.94, P =0.006), and local scars (Odd Ratio=0.07, P<0.001). The presence and development of allodynia are associated with local sweating. The positive proportion of the Iodine-starch test between the T2-5 (50.0%) with the T6-11 (23.7%) had a statistically significant difference (χ2=5.36, P=0.021). 29.5% of patients at the T2-6 had obvious sweating, which was different from only sticky feelings at the T6-11 (70.5%, χ2=10.88, P=0.001). 19.2% of patients with residual scars and allodynia was significantly lower than 48.5% of patients without allodynia (χ2=15.28, P<0.001).

Conclusion: This analysis suggests that local sweating is a concomitant symptom in dynamic allodynia, which imply the sympathetic nerves innervating the sweat glands of the skin were also involved during herpetic neuralgia. This may assist in the evaluation of dynamic allodynia and prove the role of sympathetic nerve intervention for herpetic neuralgia.

Keywords: herpetic neuralgia; mechanical dynamic allodynia; peripheral sensitization; sweating; sympathetic nerves.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors has any financial or personal conflict of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Parametric estimated value based on the collected data for binary logistic regression analyses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Como CN, Pearce CM, Cohrs RJ, Baird NL. Interleukin-6 and type 1 interferons inhibit varicella zoster virus replication in human neurons. Virology. 2018;522:13–18. doi:10.1016/j.virol.2018.06.013 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gilden DH, Gesser R, Smith J, et al. Presence of VZV and HSV-1 DNA in human nodose and celiac ganglia. Virus Genes. 2001;23:145–147. doi:10.1023/a:1011883919058 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anosike UG, Ouko I, Mwaura AW, Ongidi I, Mbonu CC. Phenotypes and genotypes in postherpetic neuralgia drug therapy: a narrative mini-review. Clin J Pain. 2022;38:536–540. doi:10.1097/AJP.0000000000001045 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Niv D, Maltsman-Tseikhin A. Postherpetic neuralgia: the never-ending challenge. Pain Pract. 2005;5:327–340. doi:10.1111/j.1533-2500.2005.00035.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Petersen KL, Rice FL, Farhadi M, Reda H, Rowbotham MC. Natural history of cutaneous innervation following herpes zoster. Pain. 2010;150:75–82. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2010.04.002 - DOI - PubMed