The Self-Reported Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS) and PainDETECT Questionnaires in COVID-19 Survivors with Post-COVID Pain

Viruses. 2022 Jul 7;14(7):1486. doi: 10.3390/v14071486.

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze correlations between Self-Report Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms (S-LANSS) and PainDETECT with proxies of sensitization, pain-related, or psychological/cognitive variables in coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) survivors exhibiting post-COVID pain. Demographic, clinical, psychological, cognitive, sensitization-associated symptoms, and health-related quality of life were collected in 146 survivors with post-COVID pain. The PainDETECT and S-LANSS questionnaires were used for assessing neuropathic pain-related symptoms. Patients were assessed with a mean of 18.8 (SD 1.8) months after hospitalization. Both questionnaires were positively associated with pain intensity (p < 0.05), anxiety (PainDETECT p < 0.05; S-LANSS p < 0.01), sensitization-associated symptoms (p < 0.01), catastrophism (p < 0.01), and kinesiophobia (p < 0.01) and negatively associated with quality of life (PainDETECT p < 0.05; S-LANSS p < 0.01). Depressive levels were associated with S-LANSS (p < 0.05) but not with PainDETECT. The stepwise regression analyses revealed that 47.2% of S-LANSS was explained by PainDETECT (44.6%), post-COVID pain symptoms duration (1.7%), and weight (1.1%), whereas 51.2% of PainDETECT was explained by S-LANSS (44.6%), sensitization-associated symptoms (5.4%), and anxiety levels (1.2%). A good convergent association between S-LANSS and PainDETECT was found. Additionally, S-LANSS was associated with symptom duration and weight whereas PainDETECT was associated with sensitization-associated symptoms and anxiety levels, suggesting that the two questionnaires evaluate different aspects of the neuropathic pain spectrum in post-COVID pain patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; PainDETECT; S-LANSS; long-COVID; neuropathic; pain.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / complications
  • COVID-19* / diagnosis
  • Humans
  • Neuralgia* / diagnosis
  • Neuralgia* / etiology
  • Quality of Life
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Self Report
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Survivors

Grants and funding

The project was supported by a grant of Comunidad de Madrid y la Unión Europea, a través del Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), Recursos REACT-UE del Programa Operativo de Madrid 2014–2020, financiado como parte de la respuesta de la Unión a la pandemia de COVID-19 (LONG-COVID-EXP-CM), by a grant from Next-Val 2021 de la Fundación Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), and by a grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation 0067235. The sponsors had no role in the design, collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data, draft, review, or approval of the manuscript or its content. The authors were responsible for the decision to submit the manuscript for publication, and the sponsor did not participate in this decision.