The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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Compelling evidence has shown chronic widespread and exaggerated pain experience in chronic musculoskeletal pain (MSKP) conditions. In addition, neuroimaging research has revealed morphological and functional brain alterations in these patients. It is hypothesized that brain alterations play a role in the persistent pain complaints of patients with chronic MSKP. Nevertheless, lack of overview exists regarding the relations between brain alterations and clinical measures of pain. The present systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, to investigate the relations between structural or functional brain alterations, using magnetic resonance imaging scans, and clinical pain measures in patients with chronic MSKP. PubMed, Web of Science, Cinahl, and Cochrane databases were searched. First, the obtained articles were screened according to title and abstract. Second, the screening was on the basis of full-text. Risk of bias in included studies was investigated according to the modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. Moderate evidence shows that higher pain intensity and pressure pain sensitivity are related to decreased regional gray matter (GM) volume in brain regions encompassing the cingulate cortex, the insula, and the superior frontal and temporal gyrus. Further, some evidence exists that longer disease duration in fibromyalgia is correlated with decreased total GM volume. Yet, inconclusive evidence exists regarding the association of longer disease duration with decreased or increased regional GM volume in other chronic MSKP conditions. Inconclusive evidence was found regarding the direction of the relation of pain intensity and pressure pain sensitivity with microstructural white matter and functional connectivity alterations. In conclusion, preliminary to moderate evidence demonstrates relations between clinical pain measures, and structural and functional connectivity alterations within brain regions involved in somatosensory, affective, and cognitive processing of pain in chronic MSKP. Nevertheless, inconclusive results exist regarding the direction of these relations. Further research is warranted to unravel whether these brain alterations are positively or negatively correlated to clinical pain measures. ⋯ Structural and functional brain alterations within regions involved in somatosensory, affective, and cognitive pain processing play a crucial role in the persistent pain of chronic MSKP patients. Accordingly, these brain alterations have to be taken into account when assessing and treating patients with chronic MSKP.
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The psychosocial and functional consequences of chronic pain disorders have been well documented as having significant effects on the experience of pain, presentation to health care providers, responsiveness to and participation in treatment, disability, and health-related quality of life. Thus, psychosocial and functional consequences have been incorporated as 1 of the 5 dimensions within the integrated Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks (ACTTION)-American Pain Society (APS) Pain Taxonomy (AAPT): 1) core diagnostic criteria; 2) common features; 3) common medical comorbidities; 4) neurobiological, psychosocial, and functional consequences; and 5) putative neurobiological and psychosocial mechanisms, risk factors, and protective factors. In this article we review the rationale for a biopsychosocial perspective, on the basis of current evidence, and describe a set of key psychosocial and behavioral factors (eg, mood/affect, coping resources, expectations, sleep quality, physical function, and pain-related interference with daily activities) that are important consequences of persistent pain and that should be considered when classifying patients within the comprehensive AAPT chronic pain structure. We include an overview of measures and procedures that have been developed to assess this set of factors and that can be used as part of the comprehensive assessment and classification of pain and to address specific research questions. ⋯ Psychosocial and functional consequences are important considerations in the classification of individuals with chronic pain. A set of key psychosocial and behavioral factors (eg, mood/affect, coping resources, expectations, sleep quality, physical function, and pain-related interference with daily activities) that should be considered when classifying patients within the comprehensive classification of chronic pain disorders developed by the AAPT are outlined and examples of assessment methods for each are described.
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The Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks-American Pain Society Pain Taxonomy (AAPT) is designed to be an evidence-based multidimensional chronic pain classification system that will facilitate more comprehensive and consistent chronic pain diagnoses, and thereby enhance research, clinical communication, and ultimately patient care. Core diagnostic criteria (dimension 1) for individual chronic pain conditions included in the initial version of AAPT will be the focus of subsequent empirical research to evaluate and provide evidence for their reliability and validity. Challenges to validating diagnostic criteria in the absence of clear and identifiable pathophysiological mechanisms are described. Based in part on previous experience regarding the development of evidence-based diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders, headache, and specific chronic pain conditions (fibromyalgia, complex regional pain syndrome, temporomandibular disorders, pain associated with spinal cord injuries), several potential approaches for documentation of the reliability and validity of the AAPT diagnostic criteria are summarized. ⋯ The AAPT is designed to be an evidence-based multidimensional chronic pain classification system. Conceptual and methodological issues related to demonstrating the reliability and validity of the proposed AAPT chronic pain diagnostic criteria are discussed.
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An ideal taxonomy of chronic pain would be applicable to people of all ages. Developmental sciences focus on lifespan developmental approaches, and view the trajectory of processes in the life course from birth to death. In this article we provide a review of lifespan developmental models, describe normal developmental processes that affect pain processing, and identify deviations from those processes that lead to stable individual differences of clinical interest, specifically the development of chronic pain syndromes. The goals of this review were 1) to unify what are currently separate purviews of "pediatric pain," "adult pain," and "geriatric pain," and 2) to generate models so that specific elements of the chronic pain taxonomy might include important developmental considerations. ⋯ A lifespan developmental model is applied to the forthcoming Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks-American Pain Society Pain Taxonomy to ascertain the degree to which general "adult" descriptions apply to pediatric and geriatric populations, or if age- or development-related considerations need to be invoked.
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Negative interpretation bias, the tendency to appraise ambiguous situations in a negative or threatening way, has been suggested to be important for the development of adult chronic pain. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the role of a negative interpretation bias in adolescent pain. We first developed and piloted a novel task that measures the tendency for adolescents to interpret ambiguous situations as indicative of pain and bodily threat. Using this task in a separate community sample of adolescents (N = 115), we then found that adolescents who catastrophize about pain, as well as those who reported more pain issues in the preceding 3 months, were more likely to endorse negative interpretations, and less likely to endorse benign interpretations, of ambiguous situations. This interpretation pattern was not, however, specific for situations regarding pain and bodily threat, but generalized across social situations as well. We also found that a negative interpretation bias, specifically in ambiguous situations that could indicate pain and bodily threat, mediated the association between pain catastrophizing and recent pain experiences. Findings may support one potential cognitive mechanism explaining why adolescents who catastrophize about pain often report more pain. ⋯ This article presents a new adolescent measure of interpretation bias. We found that the tendency to interpret ambiguous situations as indicative of pain and bodily threat may be one potential cognitive mechanism explaining why adolescents who catastrophize about pain report more pain, thus indicating a potential novel intervention target.