European journal of pain : EJP
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Children of chronic pain patients run greater risk for developing chronic pain themselves. Exposure to chronic pain of the parent might install cognitive (e.g., pain catastrophizing, interpretation and attentional bias) and affective (e.g., pain anxiety) vulnerability which increase the risk for the development of chronic pain complaints in offspring. This study examines whether pain-free offspring of parents with chronic pain complaints make more health-threatening interpretations and display a stronger pain-related attentional bias compared to the offspring of pain-free parents. We furthermore examined differences between both groups on pain catastrophizing, pain anxiety and somatic symptoms and explored the relations between parental pain catastrophizing and aforementioned pain vulnerability measures in offspring. ⋯ Parental chronic pain may install psychological vulnerability for developing chronic pain and associated complaints in offspring. This study did not show differences in pain-directed attentional and interpretation bias between offspring of parents with chronic pain complaints and offspring of pain-free parents. Further (longitudinal) research is needed to elucidate the precise role of parental pain factors in the development of pain-related vulnerability in offspring of chronic pain parents, thereby identifying important targets for the prevention and early intervention of chronic pain.
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Pain descriptors capture the multidimensional nature of pain and can elucidate underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. This study determined whether the pain descriptors chosen by subjects experiencing acute dental pain associate with the outcomes of two commonly performed dental sensory tests. The goal of the study is to clarify whether pain descriptors are useful in discriminating the underlying biological processes contributing to dental pain. ⋯ In subjects experiencing acute toothache, specific pain descriptors associate with the responses to routine clinical sensory tests performed on the injured tooth. The frequent reporting of neuropathic pain descriptors suggests that neuropathic mechanisms could create a diagnostic challenge to differentiate toothache from intraoral neuropathic conditions. Persons experiencing toothache with mechanical hypersensitivity experience more intense pain overall, suggesting patients with this clinical feature will have distinct clinical pain management needs.
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Although the influence of genetics on chronic low back pain (LBP) has been previously examined, few studies have investigated whether the impact of genetic factors on LBP depends on how the condition is assessed. ⋯ Heritability estimates were similar for different low back pain definitions, and therefore not dependent on how chronic low back pain is experienced or assessed, in the same population-based sample.
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Central neuropathic pain related to spinal cord injury is notoriously difficult to treat. So far most pharmacological and surgical options have shown but poor results. Recently ziconotide has been approved for use both neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain. In this cohort study, we assessed responder rate and long-term efficacy of intrathecal ziconotide in patients with pain related to spinal cord injury. ⋯ Intrathecal Ziconotide is a posible alternative for the treatment of pain in patients with spinal cord injury and below level neuropathic pain.