Herpes zoster: Risk categories for persistent pain

Acute neuritis and persistent pain are the most significant clinical manife stations of herpes tester and are end points for clinical trials therapy. I n an acyclovir and prednisone study, patients were categorized according to pain severity and number of lesions at presentation. Risk categories were defined according to the magnitude of risk ratios (RRs) and a comparison of Kaplan-Meier survival estimates. For acute neuritis and tester-associated pain, RRs defined rate of resolution. Patients who presented with severe or incapacitating pain and a large number of lesions were less likely to achi eve resolution of both acute neuritis and zoster-associated pain (RR, 18.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.6-48.6? and RR, 5.3; 95% CI, 4.2-17.2, res pectively), These analyses identify the subgroups of patients for whom aggr essive interventions are most strongly indicated.