Pain in HIV-infected patients – an underestimated clinical problem

World Health Organization estimates 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011. In Poland, between 1985 and the end of 2012 16 314 cases of HIV-infected were registered. The prevalence of pain in HIV-infected patients varies between 24% and 93%. Pain syndromes seen in HIV-positive patients, can be categorized into three types: those directly related to HIV infection or consequences of immunosuppression, those caused by HIV therapies, and those unrelated to HIV infection or HIV infection therapies. HIV-infected patients often suffer from two or more pain syndromes with common prevalence of neuropathic pain. The most common pain sites are as follows: head, oral cavity, chest, abdomen, joints and muscles. Pain experienced by HIV-infected patients is very often undertreated. Opioids and adjuvants are prescribed too rarely. In this article epidemiology, patomechanism, location and causes of undertreatment of pain in HIV-infected patients were discussed.