Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Recent research suggests that higher scores on measures of empathy correlate with a stronger response to observed pain, as well as higher estimates of pain intensity. Little work to date has examined the impact of empathy on evaluations of different levels of expressed pain, or how empathy may alter the accuracy of interpreting these painful facial expressions. This study examines the role of empathy in rating the intensity of facial expressions of pain, and the accuracy of these ratings relative to self-reported pain. The potential mediating role of available pain cues or the moderating role of gender on this relationship are also examined. ⋯ While observers with greater empathy may infer greater pain in senders, resulting in a smaller underestimation bias overall, they are not necessarily more accurate in estimating pain on any given stimuli. The importance of these potential differences in perceived pain for clinical assessment and interpersonal relationships are discussed.
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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.
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Multicenter Study
Impact of physician and patient gender on pain management in the emergency department--a multicenter study.
Pain is a complex experience influenced by factors such as age, race, and ethnicity. We conducted a multicenter study to better understand emergency department (ED) pain management practices and examined the influence of patient and provider gender on analgesic administration. ⋯ Provider gender as opposed to patient gender appears to influence pain management decisions in the ED.
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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.