Pain research & management : the journal of the Canadian Pain Society = journal de la société canadienne pour le traitement de la douleur
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Objective. To test the gender differences in tenderness, impact of fibromyalgia, health-related quality of life, fatigue, sleep quality, mental health, cognitive performance, pain-cognition, and positive health in Spanish fibromyalgia patients and in age-matched nonfibromyalgia individuals from the same region. To test the optimal cut-off score of the different tender points for women and men. ⋯ Conclusion. The results of the present study do not support consistent evidence of gender differences in fibromyalgia-related symptoms. However, it seems that detriment of some symptoms (especially pain) in fibromyalgia men compared with their nonfibromyalgia counterparts is greater than those of fibromyalgia women compared with their nonfibromyalgia peers.
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Objectives. Overweight negatively affects musculoskeletal health; hence obesity is considered a risk factor for osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain. This was conducted to determine if obesity affects neuropathic pain, usually considered unrelated to the weight-load on the musculoskeletal system. ⋯ Neuropathic pain that did not arise from musculoskeletal damage was higher in the high-BMI patients. Paroxysmal pain was more severe, suggesting that neural damage might be aggravated by obesity-associated inflammation. These findings should have needed to be confirmed in future studies.
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Biased pain evaluation due to automated heuristics driven by symptom uncertainty may undermine pain treatment; medical evidence moderators are thought to play a role in such circumstances. We explored, in this cross-sectional survey, the effect of such moderators (e.g., nurse awareness of patients' pain experience and treatment) on the agreement between n = 862 inpatients' self-reported pain and n = 115 nurses' pain ratings using a numerical rating scale. ⋯ Medical evidence promoted in nurses overestimation of low and underestimation of high inpatients' self-reported pain. Knowledge of the negative influence of automated heuristics driven by symptoms uncertainty and medical-evidence moderators on pain evaluation may render pain assessment more accurate.
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Background. Although feasible protocols for pain assessment and management in long-term care (LTC) have been developed, these have not been implemented on a large-scale basis. Objective. ⋯ Conclusions. It is feasible to implement regular and systematic pain assessment in LTC. Future research should focus on ensuring effective clinical practices in response to assessment results, and determination of longer-term sustainability.
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Background. Through real-time behavioral observation systems, pain behaviors are commonly used by clinicians to estimate pain intensity in patients with low back pain. However, little is known about how clinicians rely on pain-related behaviors to make their judgment. ⋯ Discussion. The use of additive rule of integration does not appear to be systematic when assessing others' pain. When assessing pain intensity, communicative and protective pain behaviors may have different relevance.