Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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This review highlights research on sex-based differences in pain perception and treatment. We sought to illuminate the complex factors contributing to differences in pain and analgesic responses between males and females, ranging from psychosocial to biological processes. ⋯ Collectively, greater understanding of the factors that commonly and differentially affect the disparity in pain perception, as well as analgesic response, are beginning to illuminate research targets and promising areas of therapeutic intervention for improved pain management.
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Multicenter Study
Are spirituality and religiosity resources for patients with chronic pain conditions?
We studied whether or not spirituality/religiosity is a relevant resource for patients with chronic pain conditions, and to analyze interrelations between spirituality/religiosity (SpREUK Questionnaire; SpREUK is an acronym of the German translation of "Spiritual and Religious Attitudes in Dealing with Illness"), adaptive coping styles that refer to the concept of locus of disease control (AKU Questionnaire; AKU is an acronym of the German translation of "Adaptive Coping with Disease"), life satisfaction, and appraisal dimensions. ⋯ The associations between spirituality/religiosity, positive appraisals. and internal adaptive coping strategies indicate that the utilization of spirituality/religiosity goes far beyond fatalistic acceptance, but can be regarded as an active coping process. The findings support the need for further research concerning the contributions of spiritual coping in adjustment to chronic pain.
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The prevalence of neuropathic pain in prediabetes and the associated risk factors in the general population are not known. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of neuropathic pain in subjects with diabetes, impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), or normal glucose tolerance (NGT). ⋯ The prevalence of neuropathic pain is two- to threefold increased in subjects with IGT and diabetes compared with those with isolated IFG. Apart from diabetes, the predominant risk factors are age, obesity, and PAD.
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This study evaluated the relationship between psychological distress and disability associated with neck pain, analyzed the Neck Disability Index (NDI) for disability factors, and assessed the impact of psychological distress on those domains of disability. ⋯ Nondistressed adults reported significantly less disability due to neck pain than psychologically distressed subjects. The NDI was found to contain two factors that pertain to three domains of the disability. Five items relating to impairments in bodily function strongly correlated with depression and somatization. Presence of psychological distress has a confounding effect on NDI scores. An outcome measure containing items related only to activity limitations and participation restrictions might give a truer picture of disability associated with neck pain for patients with psychological distress.
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There is significant psychiatric literature indicating that smoking is associated with all forms of suicidality, including suicide ideation. The goal of this study was to determine if smoking is associated with suicide ideation in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. ⋯ CLBP smokers appear to be at greater risk for suicide ideation than nonsmoking CLBP patients. The risk of suicide ideation is even greater if the CLBP patient is a heavy smoker and has problems with alcohol.