Table 1 Selected demographic, behavioural and clinical characteristics of the final sample of HZ patients.
Variables | Overall sample (n = 441) | PHN one-month definition (n = 226) | No PHN one-month definition (n = 210) | P* | PHN three-month definition (n = 130) | No PHN three-month definition (n = 304) | P* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Demographic characteristics | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Mean age in years (SD) | 58.1 (20.4) | 61.1 (18.8) | 54.9 (21.7) | 0.002 | 60.4(19.3) | 57.0 (21.0) | 0.12 |
| Â | % | % | % | Â | % | % | Â |
Female gender | 56.5 | 57.5 | 55.4 | 0.6 | 60.0 | 54.7 | 0.3 |
Married | 76.4 | 79.6 | 73.2 | 0.10 | 83.1 | 73.3 | 0.02 |
Higher educational level | 39.7 | 38.9 | 40.5 | 0.7 | 39.2 | 40.1 | 0.9 |
Anamnesis | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Hypertension | 36.0 | 39.4 | 32.6 | 0.14 | 33.8 | 36.8 | 0.7 |
Diabetes mellitus (missing = 3) | 9.1 | 10.7 | 7.5 | 0.2 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 0.9 |
HCV infection | 1.4 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.11 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
HIV infection | 1.1 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 |
Neoplasm (m = 8) | 11.3 | 12.7 | 9.9 | 0.3 | 10.0 | 11.4 | 0.9 |
Neurological disorders | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.15 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 |
Psychiatric illnesses (m = 17) | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 0.10 |
Allergy | 10.9 | 15.5 | 6.1 | 0.001 | 16.1 | 8.8 | 0.025 |
Trauma (m = 3) | 16.0 | 24.5 | 7.0 | < 0.001 | 31.8 | 9.5 | < 0.001 |
Surgical intervention (m = 3) | 31.0 | 41.5 | 20.1 | < 0.001 | 46.9 | 24.5 | < 0.001 |
Alcohol abuse (m = 7) | 6.9 | 4.5 | 9.5 | 0.04 | 4.0 | 7.9 | 0.14 |
Current or former smoking (m = 2) | 26.0 | 32.4 | 19.2 | 0.002 | 38.0 | 20.9 | < 0.001 |
Familial CHD risk (m = 2) | 25.1 | 29.9 | 20.0 | 0.017 | 31.2 | 22.2 | 0.045 |
Clinical characteristics | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
HZ dermatomeric district | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Thoracic | 49.8 | 49.1 | 50.5 | 0.8 | 46.9 | 51.3 | 0.4 |
Lumbar | 22.9 | 23.4 | 22.4 | 0.8 | 25.4 | 21.2 | 0.3 |
Cranial | 18.2 | 20.8 | 15.4 | 0.14 | 19.2 | 18.0 | 0.8 |
Cervical | 9.1 | 6.6 | 11.7 | 0.07 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 0.7 |
Pain intensity | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Mild | 40.5 | 30.1 | 51.6 | < 0.001 | 26.1 | 46.9 | < 0.001 |
Moderate | 34.2 | 33.6 | 34.7 | 0.8 | 31.5 | 35.4 | 0.4 |
Intense | 18.9 | 26.1 | 11.3 | < 0.001 | 30.0 | 13.8 | < 0.001 |
Very intense | 6.4 | 10.2 | 2.3 | < 0.001 | 12.3 | 3.9 | 0.001 |
> 50 vesicles (m = 163) | 30.2 | 37.1 | 22.0 | 0.007 | 38.4 | 26.8 | 0.054 |
Missed prescription of antivirals | 7.9 | 11.9 | 3.7 | 0.001 | 16.1 | 4.6 | < 0.001 |
Use of analgesics in the acute phase | 43.0 | 47.3 | 38.5 | 0.061 | 42.3 | 43.6 | 0.8 |