The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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Recent attempts to utilize machine learning (ML) to predict pain-related outcomes from Electroencephalogram (EEG) data demonstrate promising results. The primary aim of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of ML algorithms for predicting pain intensity, phenotypes or treatment response from EEG. Electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsycINFO and The Cochrane Library were searched. ⋯ PERSPECTIVE: This systematic review explores the state-of-the-art machine learning methods for predicting pain intensity, phenotype or treatment response from EEG data. Results suggest that machine learning may demonstrate clinical utility, pending further research and development. Areas for improvement, including standardized processing, reporting and the need for better methodological assessment tools, are discussed.
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The Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative (NIH HEAL Initiative) is an aggressive trans-NIH effort to speed solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis, including through improved pain management. Toward this end, the NIH HEAL Initiative launched a common data element (CDE) program to ensure that NIH-funded clinical pain research studies would collect data in a standardized way. NIH HEAL Initiative staff launched a process to determine which pain-related core domains should be assessed by every clinical pain study and what questionnaires are required to ensure that the data is collected uniformly. ⋯ The selection of core domains will ensure that valuable clinical pain data generated by the initiative is standardized, useable for secondary data analysis, and useful for guiding future research, clinical practice decisions, and policymaking. PERSPECTIVE: The NIH HEAL Initiative launched a common data element program to ensure that NIH-funded clinical pain research studies would collect data in a standardized way. Nine core pain domains and questionnaires to measure them were chosen for studies examining acute pain and chronic pain in adults and pediatric populations.
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The experience of phantom limb pain (PLP) is a common consequence of limb amputation, resulting in severe impairments of the affected person. Previous studies have shown that several factors such as age at or site of amputation are associated with the emergence and maintenance of PLP. In this cross-sectional study we assessed the presence of several phantom phenomena including PLP and other amputation-related information in a sample of 3,374 unilateral upper and lower limb amputees. ⋯ These results suggest that distinct variables are associated with PLP (age at amputation, level of amputation, PLS intensity, referred sensations, intensity of telescoping, RLP intensity) and RLP (PLP intensity) and point at partly different mechanisms for the emergence and maintenance of PLP and RLP. PERSPECTIVE: Clinical/demographic variables as well as perceptual variables are 2 major components related to PLP and explain ∼11% and ∼17% of the variance. These results could potentially help clinicians to understand which factors may contribute to chronic phantom limb pain.
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Neuropathic pain research and clinical care is limited in low- and middle-income countries with high prevalence of chronic pain such as Nepal. We translated and cross-culturally adapted the Self-report version of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS)-a commonly used, reliable and valid instrument to screen for pain of predominantly neuropathic origin (POPNO)-into Nepali (S-LANSS-NP) and validated it using recommended guidelines. We recruited 30 patients with chronic pain in an outpatient setting for cognitive debriefing and recruited 287 individuals with chronic pain via door-to-door interviews for validation. ⋯ The S-LANSS-NP is a comprehensible, unidimensional, internally consistent, and valid instrument to screen POPNO in individuals with chronic pain with predominantly low-levels of literacy for clinical and research use. PERSPECTIVE: This paper shows that the Nepali version of the S-LANSS is comprehensible, reliable and valid in adults with chronic pain and predominantly low-levels of literacy in rural Nepal. The study could potentially develop research and clinical care of neuropathic pain in this resource-limited setting where chronic pain is a significant problem.
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Few studies have examined whether maintaining moderate or vigorous physical activity (PA) reduces the risk of low back pain in older people. This study aimed to examine the magnitude of the associations of changes in PA on the risk of low back pain at 4 years of follow-up. We analyzed 4,882 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing who were initially free from low back pain (mean age, 65.6 ± 8.9 years at baseline). ⋯ Interventions for maintaining either moderate or vigorous PA might be beneficial in preventing the incidence of low back pain in the older population. PERSPECTIVE: This study examined the magnitude of the association between changes in physical activity over time and the risk of low back pain. The findings suggest that encouraging people to maintain at least moderate physical activity over 2 years is useful for reducing the risk of low back pain at 4 years of follow-up.