Table 2.
Pain scores and quality-of-life utility scores among participants with herpes zoster who reported clinically significant pain* at different follow-up points after onset of rash
| Variable; age group† | Time since onset of rash | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 days | 30 days | 90 days‡ | 180 days | |
| No. (%) reporting pain | ||||
| 50–60 yr | 101 (100) | 50 (49.5) | 17 (16.8) | 6 (5.9) |
| 61–70 yr | 78 (100) | 49 (62.8) | 19 (24.4) | 11 (14.1) |
| > 70 yr | 82 (100) | 51 (62.2) | 27 (32.9) | 17 (20.7) |
| Total | 261 (100) | 150 (57.5) | 63 (24.1) | 34 (13.0) |
| Mean pain score (95% CI)§ | ||||
| 50–60 yr | 5.9 (5.4–6.6) | 3.1 (2.5–3.7) | 3.1 (2.6–3.6) | 3.2 (2.0–4.4) |
| 61–70 yr | 7.4 (6.7–8.1) | 4.1 (3.5–4.7) | 4.0 (3.6–4.5) | 3.9 (2.9–4.9) |
| > 70 yr | 5.7 (5.0–6.4) | 4.2 (3.6–4.7) | 4.2 (3.8–4.6) | 4.2 (3.3–5.0) |
| Total | 6.3 (5.9–6.7) | 3.8 (3.4–4.1) | 3.8 (3.5–4.1) | 3.9 (3.3–4.5) |
| Mean EQ-5D score (95% CI)§ | ||||
| 50–60 yr | 0.62 (0.55–0.69) | 0.74 (0.67–0.80) | 0.73 (0.67–0.78) | 0.72 (0.59–0.85) |
| 61–70 yr | 0.52 (0.44–0.60) | 0.68 (0.61–0.74) | 0.68 (0.63–0.73) | 0.68 (0.58–0.79) |
| > 70 yr | 0.63 (0.55–0.71) | 0.61 (0.55–0.67) | 0.63 (0.58–0.67) | 0.65 (0.56–0.74) |
| Total | 0.59 (0.55–0.64) | 0.67 (0.64–0.71) | 0.67 (0.64–0.70) | 0.67 (0.61–0.73) |
Note: CI = confidence interval, EQ-5D = EuroQol quality-of-life assessment tool.
Clinically significant pain = any pain score during the period from rash onset to 30 days, and a pain score of ≥ 3 after 30 days.8
The age distribution of the participants was 39% (n = 101) aged 50–60 yr, 30% (n = 78) aged 61–70 yr and 31% (n = 82) aged > 70 yr.
Participants who were still reporting clinically significant pain at 90 days were considered to have postherpetic neuralgia.8
The mean pain score and EQ-5D scores were calculated for participants still reporting clinically significant pain at the different follow-up points. For example, a mean pain score of 3.8 at 90 days was calculated for the 63 participants still reporting pain at that time.