Skip to main content
. 2020 May 1;8:tkaa011. doi: 10.1093/burnst/tkaa011

Table 1.

Studies evaluating the prevalence of chronic neuropathic pain (CNP) after burn injury

Author Publication year Study design Sample size Study diagnosis of CNP Prevalence of CNP Study conclusions
Ward et al. [40] 1989 Retrospective 60 Clinical examination 25% Prevalence was not due to age, %TBSA or mechanism of burn etiology. No associations were found for developing CNP.
Choiniere et al. [35] 1991 Retrospective 104 Contacting patients by phone and inquiring if they had CNP and if it was associated with the burn injury 82% Prevalence was not due to age, sex or etiology. CNP was associated with burn size and skin grafting.
Margherita et al. [24] 1995 Prospective 17 Clinical examination and EDS 41% Burn-associated peripheral neuropathy is associated with thermal injury and may be present as early as one week on EDS.
Malenfant et al. [39] 1996 Retrospective 288 Contacting patients to administer questionnaires and assess if they had CNP and it CNP was associated with the burn injury 36.4% Prevalence was not due to age, sex, burn etiology or length of time elapsed since injury.
Khedr et al. [38] 1997 Prospective 55 Clinical examination and EDS 29% Prevalence was attributed to 11% of patients having signs and symptoms of peripheral neuropathy and 18% with findings on EDS. CNP was associated with age >20 years, electric burns involving full-thickness skin and a %TBSA more than 20%.
Dauber et al. [37] 2002 Retrospective 358 Mailing patients questionnaires and inquiring if they had any pain 52% Only 157 questionnaires completed, 23% survey response rate from the 1551 patients mailed questionnaires.
Schneider et al. [34] 2006 Retrospective 72 Clinical examination 40% The most common associated sensation was a feeling of pins and needles in 46% of patients with pain.
Gabriel et al. [36] 2009 Prospective 370 Clinical examination and EDS 10.2% Eight patients completed at least one follow-up examination. On follow-up examination there was significant improvement in clinical symptoms and EDS results without intervention. Four of the 8 patients were classified as having neuropathy with an evaluation at 71 days or less.
Brown et al. [7] 2011 Retrospective 492 Mailing patients questionnaires and inquiring if they had pain 18% Study had a 23% response rate. Patients with CNP recalled significantly more procedures and dressing changes on questionnaires.
Tamam et al. [8] 2013 Retrospective 648 EDS 7.3% Of the 47 patients with diagnosed peripheral neuropathy from EDS, 15 patients had polyneuropathy and 32 had mononeuropathy. Polyneuropathy was associated with a greater %TBSA, thermal burns, low-voltage electrical burns and upper and lower extremity burns.

%TBSA percent of total body surface area, EDS electro-diagnostic studies