The Use of Neuropathic Pain Drugs in Children with Sickle Cell Disease is Associated with Older Age, Female Gender and Longer Length of Hospital Stay

Although neuropathic pain is increasingly recognized in sickle cell disease (SCD), it is unknown how neuropathic pain drugs are used in children with SCD. Thus, we investigated use of these drugs and hypothesized older age and female gender are associated with increased neuropathic drug use and the use of these drugs is associated with longer length of stay. We analyzed the Pediatric Health Information System (2004-09) including all inpatient visits 0-18 years with any SCD-related (all genotypes) discharge diagnosis. To limit confounding we excluded psychiatric and seizure visits. Antiepileptics, tricyclic antidepressants, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were drugs of interest. Generalized Estimating Equations determined the impact of age and gender on neuropathic drug use and the impact of neuropathic drug use on length of stay. We analyzed 53,557 visits; 2.9% received ≥1 neuropathic drugs. The odds of receiving a neuropathic drug increased significantly with age [Reference group 0-4 yrs: 5-10, OR 5.7; 11-14, OR 12.5; 15-18, OR 22.8; all p