Predictors of pain intensity and persistence in a prospective Italian cohort of patients with herpes zoster: relevance of smoking, trauma and antiviral therapy

Table 5 Regression model predicting pain burden during follow-up.

Variables	Coefficient	(95% CI)	P
Age, 10-year increase	0.03	(0.01/0.05)	0.004
Female gender	0.68	(-0.21/1.59)	0.14
Current/former smoking	1.50	(0.47/2.53)	0.004
Intense/very intense pain at presentation	3.40	(2.37/4.43)	< 0.001
Trauma	1.58	(0.31/2.85)	0.015
Missed antiviral prescription	2.22	(0.63/3.82)	0.006

Pain burden was calculated by multiplying pain intensity for its duration, using the area-under-the-curve (AUC) method described in the text. The dependent variable AUC was transformed into its square root to approach normality.

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