Sensory, psychological and metabolic dysfunction in HIV-Associated Peripheral Neuropathy. A cross sectional deep profiling study.
Phillips TJ., Brown M., Ramirez JD., Perkins J., Woldeamanuel YW., de C Williams AC., Orengo C., Bennett DL., Bodi I., Cox S., Maier C., Krumova EK., Rice AS.
HIV-associated Sensory Neuropathy (HIV-SN) is a frequent complication of HIV infection and a major source of morbidity. A cross-sectional deep profiling study examining HIV-SN was conducted in people living with HIV in a high resource setting, using a battery of measures which included: parameters of pain and sensory symptoms (7 day pain diary, Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory (NPSI) and Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)), sensory innervation (structured neurological examination, quantitative sensory testing (QST) and intra-epidermal nerve fibre density (IENFD)), psychological state (Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale-20 (PASS-20), Depression Anxiety and Positive Outlook Scale (DAPOS), and Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index (ISI)) and quality of life (Short-Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36)). The diagnostic utility of the Brief Peripheral Neuropathy Screen (BPNS), Utah Early Neuropathy Scale (UENS) and Toronto Clinical Scoring System (TCSS) were evaluated. Thirty-six healthy volunteers and 66 HIV infected participants were recruited. A novel triumvirate case definition for HIV-SN was used which required two out of three of the following: two or more abnormal QST findings, reduced IENFD and signs of a peripheral neuropathy on a structured neurological examination. Of those with HIV, 42% fulfilled the case definition for HIV-SN (n=28), of whom 75% (n=21) reported pain. The most frequent QST abnormalities in HIV-SN were loss of function in mechanical and vibration detection. Structured clinical examination was superior to QST or IENFD in HIV-SN diagnosis. HIV-SN participants had higher plasma triglyceride concentrations depression, anxiety and catastrophizing scores and prevalence of insomnia than HIV participants without HIV-SN.