The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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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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This study investigated whether observers socially exclude patients who experience pain that is not medically explained by means of an experimental design. Fifty-nine participants (individuals from the general population) viewed videos of 4 patients, each accompanied by a vignette describing the presence or absence of a medical explanation for their pain. Participants estimated patient's pain, and rated the sympathy felt for and the inclination to help the patient. To measure social exclusion, participants indicated their willingness to interact with the patients in several situations (Social Distance Scale). Furthermore, the participants were invited to select 2 of the 4 patients as confederates to play a game against another duo. When no medical explanation for the pain was provided, participants attributed less pain, reported feeling less sympathy, and were less inclined to help the patients with daily activities. Of particular importance to this study, participants were less willing to interact with patients with medically unexplained pain and selected less often patients with 'medically unexplained' pain than patients with 'medically explained' pain as confederates in the social game. These results are indicative of social exclusion of patients with pain for which there is no clear medical explanation. ⋯ Observers socially exclude patients with pain for which there is no clear medical explanation. These findings have important clinical implications. In particular, social exclusion might have detrimental effects on the mental and physical well-being of patients with pain.
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Review Meta Analysis
Towards Identifying Moderators of Associations Between Pre-Surgery Emotional Distress and Post-Operative Pain Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies.
Presurgery emotional distress has had variable associations with outcomes of surgery in past narrative reviews. This meta-analysis was designed to evaluate the overall strengths of relations between presurgical emotional distress and key postsurgical pain outcomes (ie, pain intensity, analgesic use, functional impairment) and to identify moderators that might explain effect size heterogeneity between studies. PubMed, Web of Science, PsychINFO, Google Scholar, and Science Direct databases were searched to identify studies subjected to meta-analysis. Forty-seven studies of 6,207 patients met all 10 inclusion criteria. High presurgery emotional distress levels were associated with significantly more postsurgical pain, analgesic use, and impairment after surgery, with small to medium average effect sizes. Moderator analyses for relations between distress and pain intensity indicated effect sizes were larger in studies that assessed catastrophizing, anxiety, and/or depression than other types of emotional distress as well as those with lower rather than higher quality scores. Associations between presurgery distress and postoperative impairment were moderated by type of surgery. Heterogeneity in these relations was reduced or no longer significant after statistically controlling for moderators. Moderator analyses also supported the role of presurgery emotional distress as a risk factor for, rather than simply a correlate of, elevations in postoperative pain and disability. ⋯ This meta-analysis indicates presurgery emotional distress has significant associations with postoperative outcomes but specific methodological factors and sample characteristics contribute to effect size variability in the literature. Considering emotional distress within presurgical assessment protocols may aid in identifying vulnerable patients who can benefit from interventions targeting distress reductions.
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Review
Systematic review of childhood and adolescent risk and prognostic factors for recurrent headaches.
Little is known about childhood and adolescent risk and prognostic factors for recurrent headaches. This systematic review 1) examined longitudinal evidence about factors associated with onset and course of recurrent headaches in childhood or adolescence, using meta-analysis where possible, and 2) evaluated the quality of this evidence using a modified Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework. Through searching electronic databases, reference lists of included studies, and an electronic mail list we identified and included 23 articles reporting 19 cohorts. From the included studies we explored 27 risk factors for recurrent headaches, 27 prognostic factors for persistence of recurrent headaches, and 6 prognostic factors for presence of headache-related disability. The quality of evidence for most associations is low or very low. There is moderate-quality evidence that women are at risk of developing recurrent headaches and of headaches persisting. There is high-quality evidence suggesting that children with negative emotional states manifested through anxiety, depression, or mental distress are not at risk of developing headache, but moderate-quality evidence suggests that the presence of comorbid negative emotional states in children with headaches is associated with increased risk of headache persistence. Because of the small number of studies, further investigation is needed to increase confidence in existing evidence and to explore new risk and prognostic factors. ⋯ This is a review of the evidence about childhood and adolescent risk and prognostic factors for the onset of recurrent headaches and their course. Understanding these factors can help identify childrens' risk and may suggest ways to reduce this risk.