The impact of pain on health-related quality of life 3 months after stroke.

BACKGROUND: Pain is common in stroke; however, its impacts on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are unclear due to the limitations of previous studies.

OBJECTIVES: The current study aims to examine and compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of Chinese stroke patients with and without pain and explore the correlations between poststroke pain and HRQoL.

METHOD: Four hundreds and forty-one participants recruited in an acute stroke unit in a regional hospital. They were assessed 3 months after the index stroke with the following instruments. HRQoL was measured using the Short Form-12 (SF-12). The Chinese version of the Faces Pain Rating Scale-Revised (FPS-R) was used to determine the presence and intensity of pain. The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were obtained using Barthel Index (BI), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADSA), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Modified Rankin Scale (MRS), and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS).

RESULTS: Of all participants screened, 167 reported pain and 69 had novel pain. The pain group had significantly lower physical component summary (PCS) scores after adjusting for sex, education, DSM-IV depression and BI, GDS, HADSA, and FSS scores. The FPS score was negatively correlated with a lower PCS score in patients with pain and with novel pain.

CONCLUSION: The presence and intensity of pain have significant negative effects on HRQoL in stroke survivors. Interventions for pain could make a valuable contribution to improving HRQoL in stroke survivors.