Sensory characteristics according to chronic diseases and chronic pain in adults: cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim: To investigate somatosensory, gustative and olfactory characteristics of subjects according to their chronic diseases and the presence of chronic pain complaints. Materials & methods: A total of 254 chronic pain patients and 52 healthy subjects were evaluated with a clinical and sensory systematized evaluation. Statistical analysis consisted of Fisher’s exact, Student’s t-tests, Pearson’s co-efficient and multivariate nonlinear/logistic regressions. Results: Patients had more chronic diseases (p < 0.001) than healthy subjects. Chronic pain was associated with vibratory hypoesthesia (p = 0.047) and sour hypergeusia (p = 0.001) and several chronic diseases correlated with sensory features. Hyposmia was strongly associated with chronic pain symptoms, chronic diseases and cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: The sensory findings observed suggest the need for further investigation about the overlap between the olfactory function, pain chronification, chronic diseases and cognitive impairment in these patients.