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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The Special Interest Group of the Canadian Pain Society has produced consensus-based guidelines for the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain. The society aimed to generate an additional guideline for other forms of neuropathic pain treatments. ⋯ There is sufficient evidence to support recommendations for some of these interventions for selected neuropathic pain conditions. This evidence is, at best, moderate and is often limited or conflicting. Pain practitioners are encouraged to explore evidence-based treatment options before considering unproven treatments. Full disclosure of risks and benefits of the available options is necessary for shared decision making and informed consent.
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The epidemiology of chronic pain is poorly understood due to a paucity of longitudinal studies limiting the ability to develop prevention strategies for a condition resistant to many current therapies. ⋯ Women had a higher prevalence - but not incidence - of chronic pain compared with men, indicative of longer duration of illness in women. Risk factors also differed according to sex, supporting current literature reporting potentially different mechanisms for men and women. A better understanding of risk factors is necessary to develop population-based preventive interventions. The former can only be achieved with population-based, longitudinal studies.
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Diminished executive function and attentional control has been reported in chronic pain patients. However, the precise pattern of impairment in these aspects of cognition in chronic pain remains unclear. Moreover, a decline in psychomotor speed could potentially influence executive and attentional control performance in pain patients. ⋯ Executive and attention functions are not uniformly affected in chronic pain. At least part of the previously reported decline in executive function in this group may reflect psychomotor slowing. Overall, limited evidence was found that executive and attention performance is indeed lower in chronic pain. Therefore, it can be concluded that in chronic pain sustained attention performance is diminished while mental flexibility, planning and inhibition appear to be intact.
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A previous audit performed at a tertiary ⁄ quaternary pediatric hospital in Toronto, Ontario, demonstrated suboptimal assessment and treatment of children's pain. Knowledge translation (KT) initiatives (education, reminders, audit and feedback) were implemented to address identified care gaps; however, the impact is unknown. ⋯ Following KT initiatives, significant improvements in pain processes (pain assessment documentation and pain management interventions) and clinical outcomes (pain prevalence, pain intensity) were observed. Further improvements are recommended, specifically with respect to procedural pain practices and opioid utilization patterns.