You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Prognosis
Post-herpetic neuralgia was not frequent or severe after a first episode of herpes zoster

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebm.6.2.58

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    (2000) BMJ 321, 794. Helgason S, Petursson G, Gudmundsson S, et al.. Prevalence of post-herpetic neuralgia after a first episode of herpes zoster: a prospective study with long term follow up.. Sep:. :. –6..
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text

    
 
 QUESTION: In patients with a first episode of herpes zoster, what is the clinical course of the disease and the duration of pain?

    Design

    Inception cohort followed up for 12 months.

    Setting

    Catchment area of 100 000 people for 62 general practitioners in Iceland.

    Patients

    421 patients {mean age 42 y, 56% women}* who had a first episode of herpes zoster. Patients with a history of zoster were excluded. Follow up was complete at 1 year.

    Assessment of prognostic factors

    Sex and age.

    Main outcome measures

    Severity and duration of pain and prevalence of post-herpetic neuralgia.

    Main results

    Sex was not a predictor of post-herpetic neuralgia at any point during follow up. Age was a predictor of pain severity and duration. The odds ratio for pain per 10 years of age difference was 1.87 (95% CI 1.56 to 2.23) after 1 month, 2.11 (CI 1.56 to 2.84) after 3 months, and 2.33 (CI 1.48 to 3.69) after …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Sources of funding: In part, Icelandic College of Family Physicians and Research Fund of the University of Iceland.

    • For correspondence:Dr S Helgason, Arbaer Health Care Centre, IS-110 Reykjavik, Iceland. on sh{at}centrum.is.

    • ↵* Information provided by author.