Incidence of Pain Post SCI

Pain is a frequent complication of traumatic spinal cord injury. Reported estimates of the incidence of pain following SCI range anywhere from 48 to 92% (Britell & Mariano 1991; Cohen et al. 1988; Mariano 1992; Modirian et al. 2010; Rose et al. 1988). These wide ranging estimates are felt to be a reflection of significant heterogeneity in defining pain in this population. Bonica (1991) reviewed data contained in 10 reports that surveyed 2,449 SCI patients (Botterell et al. 1953; Britell 1986; Burke 1973; Davis & Martin 1947; Kaplan et al. 1962; Munro 1950; Nepomunceno et al. 1979; Richards et al. 1980; Rose et al. 1988; Woolsey 1986). Chronic pain was present in 1,695 (69%) and in 30% of these patients it was rated as severe. Six of the reports (Botterell et al. 1953; Burke 1973; Davis & Martin 1947; Nepomunceno et al. 1979; Rose et al. 1988; Woolsey 1986) analyzed the different types of pain. Out of a total of 1,965 patients, 608 (31%) of the patients had central pain, dysesthesia, or phantom limb pain, 219 (12%) had root pain, and 198 (10%) had visceral pain caused by a central mechanism. There were 1,028 (53%) SCI patients with deafferented pain.