The effect of duration, severity, response to treatment, family and social interactions with chronic pain and depression have been studied extensively. But, none of the studies have ever reported any association of the character of chronic pain particularly neuropathic pain with depression. The aim of this study is to find out the association of neuropathic pain (using painDETECT tool) and depression [using the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale].

A prospective analysis of 250 patients, aged 18 to 65 years of either sex suffering from chronic pain for more than 3 months’ duration with an average pain score of 4/10 or more on numerical rating scale (NRS) and moderate to severe depression diagnosed using PHQ-9 scale, were included in the study. Neuropathic character of pain was diagnosed using painDETECT tool. We analyzed the possible association of neuropathic pain with depression.

In 3.2% of patients were found to be suffering from neuropathic pain, 19.6% patients were non-neuropathic or nociceptive pain and 77.2% patients were suffering from mixed type of pain where neuropathic pain may be present. The average depression score on PHQ-9 scale was 14.58 ± 3.72. In 58.4% of patients the depression was moderate, 30.4% of patients the depression was moderately severe and 11.2 % of patients were suffering from severe depression. On analysis of data, we have found that there is no statistically significant association between neuropathic pain and depression (p = 0.8).

We did not find any statistically significant correlation between neuropathic pain and depression.

Sharma K, Das G, Dey S, Villano EQ, Mandal S. Neuropathic Pain and Depression: A Prospective Study to find out Any Association. J Recent Adv Pain 2016;2(1):6-10.