Background Pain is a common symptom and a cause of hospitalization in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Traditionally linked to vaso‐occlusive crises and categorized as acute and nociceptive, this perspective does not reflect the complexity of pain in this population, which includes pain with neuropathic features caused by lesions or dysfunctions in the somatosensory nervous system. Ion channels such as transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), involved in neuropathic pain mechanisms, play a role in nociceptive transduction and can be affected by genetic variants. This study examined the prevalence of neuropathic pain in patients with SCD and its link to TRPV1 gene polymorphisms, combining clinical and genetic data to develop a comprehensive understanding of pain in this population. Methods A cross‐sectional study included 84 patients followed at a hematology center in Northeast Brazil. Neuropathic pain was assessed using the Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4) questionnaire, and four TRPV1 polymorphisms (rs224534, rs222747, rs8065080, and rs222749) were genotyped using standard PCR. Results Neuropathic pain was present in 36.9% of participants and was significantly associated with age over 34 years, self‐identification as Black, and a higher number of pain episodes in the past year ( p < 0.05). Patients with three or more episodes were nine times more likely to have neuropathic pain. There were no differences in gender, opioid use, or hospitalizations. None of the analyzed polymorphisms showed an association with neuropathic pain. Conclusion Neuropathic pain is a common and underrecognized feature of SCD. Although no association was observed between the evaluated TRPV1 polymorphisms and neuropathic pain, these findings do not exclude a role for TRPV1 and likely reflect the multifactorial nature of pain in SCD. Further studies using genetic approaches and larger samples are warranted to elucidate the mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain.
Rodrigues et al. (Thu,) studied this question.