title: Health-related quality of life in 975 patients with complex regional pain syndrome type 1.
abstract: There are limited data available on health-related quality of life (QoL) in patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). In the present study we examined QoL in 975 CRPS patients attending 6 different clinics in the Netherlands. QoL was assessed using the MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) with the Mental Health Summary Score (MHS) and the Physical Health Summary Score (PHS) as dependent variables. The influences of gender, type of affected limb, disease duration, pain scores, CRPS severity and set of diagnostic criteria used were investigated. We found the lowest scores of QoL in the physical domains of the SF-36, with lower-limb CRPS patients reporting poorer results than patients with an affected upper limb. Influence of gender on QoL was not observed, and correlations of QoL with disease duration and the CRPS severity score were weak. Pain correlated moderately with QoL. In addition, patients fulfilling stricter diagnostic criteria (ie, the Budapest criteria) had lower QoL scores than patients fulfilling less strict criteria (ie, the Orlando criteria). We conclude that loss of QoL in CRPS patients is due mainly to reduced physical health. A comparison with data available from the literature shows that CRPS patients generally report poorer QoL than patients with other chronic pain conditions, particularly in the physical domains. Pain correlated moderately with QoL and therefore deserves ongoing attention by physicians. Finally, patients meeting the diagnostic Budapest criteria have lower QoL scores than patients meeting the Orlando criteria, highlighting the impact of different sets of criteria on population characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands Knowledge Consortium TREND, Leiden, The Netherlands Department of Anaesthesiology, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Institute for Extramural Medicine (EMGO), Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Medical Statistics and BioInformatics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands Department of Anaesthesiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Department of Anaesthesiology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands Department of Anaesthesiology, Sint Elisabeth Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands Department of Anaesthesiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gijsbrecht A J
authors.initials: GAJ
authors.lastname: van Velzen
authors.forename: Roberto S G M
authors.initials: RSGM
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Miriam A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van Gestel
authors.forename: Frank J P M
authors.initials: FJPM
authors.lastname: Huygen
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Kleef
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: van Eijs
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dahan
authors.forename: Jacobus J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van Hilten
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marinus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012019:Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS); Pain; Physical functioning; Quality of life (QoL)