Original Research Article
The occurrence and characteristics of pain in HIV-1 positive
persons – A challenge in the aging population
Marcin Kowalski *, Ewa Firla˛g-Burkacka, Andrzej Horban
Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Warsaw, Poland
1. Background
Only in the United States over 100 million people suffer from
chronic pain, which contributes to 20% of outpatient visits [1]. The
prevalence of average chronic pain in European Union is reported
as 27% of general adult population [2]. In HIV infected population
pain is even more predominant. The recent study by Miaskowski
et al. showed that over 90% of patients reported any kind of pain
and/or the use of pain medication in the recent week [3].
Through the spread of effective and accessible antiretroviral
treatment HIV