Bohan Hua,1,2 Mingzi An,2 Liping Chen,2 Huadong Ni,2 Chaobo Ni,1,2 Ming Yao1,2 

1Anesthesia Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology and Pain medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Ming Yao; Chaobo Ni, Anesthesia Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang, 310053, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 137 5839 4990, Email jxyaoming@zjxu.edu.cn; jxnichaobo@zjxu.edu.cn

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between the level of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).
Patients and Methods: This cohort study included 100 patients with herpes zoster (HZ) undergoing treatment with pulsed radiofrequency (PRF). Patients with comorbid type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were divided into three groups based on their glycemic control levels: good [HbA1c < 7% (53.01 mmol/mol), group D1], fair [7% (53.01 mmol/mol) ≤ HbA1c < 9% (74.86 mmol/mol), group D2], and poor [9% (74.86 mmol/mol) ≤ HbA1c, group D3]. The control group (group N) consisted of patients without T2DM. The main outcome measured was the occurrence of PHN in the four groups.
Results: A total of 90 patients were included in the cohort. The occurrence of PHN was found to be higher in groups D2 and D3 when compared to group N (N vs D2, P = 0.007; N vs D3, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the occurrence of PHN was higher in groups D2 and D3 in comparison to group D1 (D1 vs D2, P = 0.022; D1 vs D3, P < 0.001), with the incidence of PHN in group D3 being greater than in group D2 (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Preoperative HbA1c predicts the incidence of PHN after PRF in T2DM patients.

Keywords: herpes zoster, postherpetic neuralgia, pulsed radiofrequency, type 2 diabetes mellitus, HbA1c