Scores of peripheral neuropathic pain predicting long-term mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes: A retrospective cohort study

<jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives</jats:title><jats:p>Diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP) is a prevalent chronic complication in patients with diabetes. Using a questionnaire is helpful for DPNP screening in outpatients. In this retrospective cohort, we aimed to examine whether DPNP diagnosed based on scoring questionnaires could predict long-term mortality in outpatients with type 2 diabetes.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>We enrolled 2318 patients who had joined the diabetes pay-for-performance program and completed the annual assessments, including both the identification pain questionnaire (ID pain) and Douleur Neuropathique en 4 questionnaire (DN4), between January 2013 and October 2013. Information on registered deaths was collected up to August 2019.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>There was high consistency in the scores between the ID pain and DN4 (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.935, P &lt; 0.001). During the median follow-up of 6.2 years (interquartile range: 5.9−6.4 years), 312 patients deceased. Patients with an ID pain score of ≥ 2 had a higher mortality risk than those with a score of &lt; 2 (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.394, 95%CI: 1.090−1.782), and patients with a DN4 score of ≥ 4 had a higher mortality risk than those with a score of &lt; 4 (HR = 1.668, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.211−2.297). Patients consistently diagnosed with DPNP by the ID pain and DN4 had a significantly higher mortality risk (HR = 1.713, 95% CI: 1.223−2.398, P = 0.002), but not those discrepantly diagnosed with DPNP (P = 0.107), as compared with those without DPNP.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Both the ID pain and DN4 for DPNP screening were predictive of long-term mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, a discrepancy in the diagnosis of DPNP weakened the power of mortality prediction.</jats:p></jats:sec>