The Clinical journal of pain
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Ineffective analgesic decisions in the home may jeopardize the safety and comfort of children, yet little is known about factors influencing parental decisions. This study explored how parents' analgesic understanding influenced their hypothetical decisions to give opioids when faced with important trade-off dilemmas where pain and adverse drug event (ADE) symptoms were both present. ⋯ These data suggest that gist understanding of ADE seriousness, not just its possible presence, is needed to facilitate safe analgesic decisions. Importantly, higher overall ADE understanding did not influence parents' opioid decisions in the presence of high pain and absence of ADEs. Thus, risk information about specific ADEs is unlikely to dissuade parents from efforts to manage pain but may improve their decisions if ADEs should occur.
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Multicenter Study
Chronic Pain and Heart Rate Variability in a Cross-Sectional Occupational Sample: Evidence for Impaired Vagal Control.
The vagus nerve influences the modulation of pain. Chronic pain is associated with disturbance of the descendent inhibitory pathway (DIP). Heart rate variability (HRV) is a proxy measure for vagal activity and may reflect dysfunction of the DIP. We aimed to investigate the association of HRV and pain in individuals with and without chronic pain. ⋯ Our results suggest that the DIP indexed by vagal activity operationalized as RMSSD is disturbed in persons with chronic pain. Furthermore, the correlations between RMSSD and pain are different between those without and those with chronic pain. The findings are discussed, emphasizing changes in brain activity and the comorbid dysregulation of emotion in patients with chronic pain, to provide implications for the treatment of chronic pain.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Pain-related Sleep Disturbance - A Prospective Study with Repeated Measures.
Pain has been found to be associated with poor sleep quality, awakenings, and shorter sleep time. There is a need to understand the relationship of pain and sleep over time to adequately manage the pain disorder and its consequences. The objectives of this study were to establish the prevalence of sleep disturbance in patients with acute or persistent low back pain (LBP), to investigate the correlation between pain and sleep disturbance and to explore the influence of pain on sleep disturbance. ⋯ This study used repeated measures of both pain and sleep disturbance. The results were in line with previous research, confirming that sleep disturbance was found in the majority of patients with LBP. Pain and sleep measures were significantly correlated, and there was an increased risk of reporting sleep disturbance after experiencing LBP.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the association between smoking and stress with nonpersistent and persistent back pain. ⋯ This study further substantiates the findings of prior research that describes a significant relationship between back pain, stress, and smoking. Understanding the role of modifiable risk factors (ie, smoking and stress) and their impact on back pain provides an opportunity to offer a comprehensive and tailored treatment plan.
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Disturbed endogenous pain modulation is likely one of the mechanisms underlying central hypersensitivity and might be a contributing factor for the development and maintenance of chronic pain. To our knowledge, no study has investigated endogenous pain modulation in both acute and chronic low back pain (LBP). We tested the hypothesis that endogenous pain inhibition is impaired in patients with acute and chronic LBP. ⋯ The present study provides evidence for some alterations of endogenous modulation in both acute and chronic LBP. CPM was still detected in both patient groups, indicating that endogenous modulation, although effective for a shorter duration, is partially functioning in patients with LBP.