Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Pain symptoms in patients with severe cerebral palsy: Prevalence among patients with higher degree of locomotor impairment

Clarissa de Albuquerque Botura¹, Franciele Queiroz Ames², Ana Clara de Albuquerque Botura³, Luiz Eduardo Bersani-Amado¹, Aline Vieira Scarlatelli Lima Bardini⁴, Roberto Kenji Nakamura Cuman²

¹Department of Medicine-Uningá Faculty; ²Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, State University of Maringá; ³Hospital Universitário de Maringá, Paraná; ⁴University of Southern Santa Catarina, Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

For correspondence:- Roberto Cuman Email: rkncuman1@gmail.com

Received: 20 December 2016 Accepted: 10 May 2017 Published: 29 June 2017

Citation: Botura Cd, Ames FQ, Botura AC, Bersani-Amado LE, Bardini AV, Cuman RK. Pain symptoms in patients with severe cerebral palsy: Prevalence among patients with higher degree of locomotor impairment. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(6):1431-1436 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i6.30

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the presence of pain in patients diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy (CP) according to the degree of motor function impairment.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on students of the Association of Parents and Friends of Exceptional Children (APAE) diagnosed with cerebral palsy and with severe locomotor disability (GMFCS levels IV and V). The study included students of both genders and of any age. After signing the consent form, a structured questionnaire was administered to parents or caregivers to collect data on the history of the illness and the Paediatric Pain Profile (PPP). A score ≥ 14 out of a possible 60 points suggests the presence of pain.

Results: A total of 93 subjects were evaluated. Of the 44 subjects classified with GMFCS level IV, 12 (21.4 %) suffer pain and among the 49 subjects classified with level V, 44 (78.6 %) had pain symptoms (ICDDN ≥ 14, PR = 3.29, 95 % CI 2.01 - 5.38, p < 0.01).

Conclusion: The results show that pain is prevalent in individuals with severe CP. Furthermore, it is more prevalent in patients with a higher degree of locomotor impairment (GMFCS – level V).

Keywords: Cerebral palsy, Pain measurement, Locomotor disability, Gross motor function classification system (GMFCS)