title: Incidence and prognosis of persistent pain induced by venipuncture for blood sampling: an observational study over a 5-year period.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence and prognosis of persistent and neuropathic pain induced by venipuncture for blood sampling in clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated the incidence of persistent and neuropathic pain after venipuncture for blood sampling and evaluated the prognosis of patients with neuropathic pain at Nihon University Itabashi Hospital, Japan, based on an observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatients who required venipuncture for blood sampling at the laboratory room of Nihon University Itabashi Hospital between 2004 and 2008 were included as study subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the present study, of the 587,551 venipunctures performed at our hospital between 2004 and 2008, the incidences of persistent and neuropathic pain after venipuncture were 1 in every 4,418 venipunctures (133/587,551) and 1 in every 30,923 venipunctures (19/587,551), respectively. All the 19 patients who were identified as having neuropathic pain recovered completely.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrated that the incidence of persistent pain after venipuncture for blood sampling is low and that its prognosis is good.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. kato.jitsu@nihon-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Jitsu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Katsuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Kaname
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Ryoji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Setsuro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogawa
mesh_terms: D001132:Arm / Q000294:innervation; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D018962:Phlebotomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011379:Prognosis