Table 4.
Clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed with postherpetic neuralgia
| Clinical characteristic | Patients diagnosed with PHN (n = 828) |
|---|---|
| Time since HZ diagnosis, n (%) | |
| < 1 year | 670 (80.9) |
| 1 year to < 5 years | 129 (15.6) |
| ≥ 5 years | 27 (3.3) |
| Specialty of physician who diagnosed HZ, n (%)a | |
| Dermatologist | 192 (78.7) |
| Neurologist | 29 (11.9) |
| Pain specialist | 16 (6.6) |
| Other | 6 (2.5) |
| How patient was diagnosed with HZ, n (%) | |
| Diagnosed by reporting physician | 234 (28.3) |
| Referred to reporting physician from within hospital without diagnosis | 32 (3.9) |
| Referred to reporting physician from within hospital with diagnosis already | 212 (25.6) |
| Referred to reporting physician from an outside hospital without diagnosis | 35 (4.2) |
| Referred to reporting physician from an outside hospital with diagnosis already | 315 (38.0) |
| Method used for diagnosing HZ, n (%) | |
| Patient description | 709 (85.6) |
| Clinical examination | 696 (84.1) |
| Other | 26 (3.1) |
| Time since PHN diagnosis, n (%) | |
| < 1 year | 694 (83.8) |
| 1 year to < 5 years | 110 (13.3) |
| ≥ 5 years | 22 (2.7) |
| Time since onset of pain due to PHN, n (%)b | |
| < 1 year | 149 (80.5) |
| 1 year to < 5 years | 28 (15.1) |
| ≥ 5 years | 8 (4.3) |
| Specialty of physician who diagnosed PHN, n (%)c | |
| Dermatologist | 94 (49.5) |
| Pain specialist | 55 (28.9) |
| Neurologist | 35 (18.4) |
| Other | 6 (3.2) |
| How patient was diagnosed with PHN, n (%) | |
| Diagnosed by reporting physician | 382 (46.1) |
| Referred to reporting physician from within hospital without diagnosis | 49 (5.9) |
| Referred to reporting physician from within hospital with diagnosis already | 141 (17.0) |
| Referred to reporting physician from outside hospital without diagnosis | 51 (6.2) |
| Referred to reporting physician from outside hospital with diagnosis already | 204 (24.6) |
| Method used for diagnosing PHN, n (%) | |
| Patient description | 736 (88.9) |
| Clinical examination | 682 (82.4) |
| Other | 13 (1.6) |
| How patient presented with rash and pain, n (%) | |
| Rash followed by pain | 286 (34.5) |
| Pain followed by rash (prodromal pain of HZ) | 262 (31.6) |
| Rash and pain at the same time | 244 (29.5) |
| Not documented | 35 (4.2) |
| Length of time in years between presentation of rash and occurrence of pain, mean (95% CI) | 0.97 (0.83–1.10) |
| Length of time in years between presentation of pain and occurrence of rash, mean (95% CI) | 0.73 (0.55–0.91) |
The total number of patients may not sum to 828 for each characteristic because of missing data or because multiple answers could be given to a single question
CI confidence interval, HZ herpes zoster, PHN postherpetic neuralgia
aData available for 243 patients
bData available for 185 patients
cData available for 190 patients