Articles: chronic-pain.
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Pain occurrence among adolescents, whether acute or chronic, persistent or intermittent, remains high, with potentially serious effects on quality of life, physical and emotional functioning, and psychosocial adjustment. The prevalence of pain in adolescents varies widely, and although discussed in the literature for more than two decades, data on adolescent knowledge and pain self-treatment is scarce. This descriptive-correlational study identified pain prevalence and intensity and pain self-treatment choices among adolescents in a diverse urban community. ⋯ Gender also predicted use of self-treatment methods, with girls more likely to use over-the-counter medications and nonpharmacologic therapies. Number of pain sites was also a strong predictor of use of self-treatment methods among adolescents. Knowledge of the pain experience during adolescence will help guide community-based nursing initiatives aimed at increasing awareness, promoting knowledge about pain and its treatment, and ensuring safety and positive outcomes related to self-treatment.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Jun 2012
ReviewQuantitative sensory testing of neuropathic pain patients: potential mechanistic and therapeutic implications.
Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is a widely accepted tool to investigate somatosensory changes in pain patients. Many different protocols have been developed in clinical pain research within recent years. In this review, we provide an overview of QST and tested neuroanatomical pathways, including peripheral and central structures. ⋯ Clinically, QST may be useful for 1) the identification of subgroups of patients with different underlying pain mechanisms; 2) prediction of therapeutic outcomes; and 3) quantification of therapeutic interventions in pain therapy. Combined with sensory mapping, QST may provide useful information on the site of neural damage and on mechanisms of positive and negative somatosensory abnormalities. The use of QST in individual patients for diagnostic purposes leading to individualized therapy is an interesting concept, but needs further validation.
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Multicenter Study
Patient perceptions associated with the 5% lidocaine medicated plaster in daily practice.
To evaluate patients' perceptions of 5% lidocaine medicated plaster for treatment of chronic neuropathic pain in daily clinical practice. ⋯ In a patient population where 46% of individuals already suffered from chronic to markedly chronic pain, patients perceive the 5% lidocaine medicated plaster as an efficacious topical treatment of chronic neuropathic pain in daily clinical practice. Strongest pain relief as well as associated improvements in pain-related restrictions were observed within the first five treatment weeks; however, beneficial effects continued until end of observation.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Jun 2012
ReviewEpidemiology of neuropathic pain and its impact on quality of life.
Epidemiology is an important clinical tool in designing and evaluating management and prevention strategies, and is particularly relevant to neuropathic pain. However, there is a relative lack of accurate information available. In one sense, neuropathic pain describes a symptom or a mechanism, rather than a specific disease; on the other hand, there are sufficient similarities in the effects and response to treatment between different causes to make it worthwhile to consider neuropathic pain as a distinct condition. ⋯ Estimates of prevalence that are based on specific causes of neuropathic pain tend to be lower (1-2%) than those that are based on reports of the classic symptoms (6-8%), and further methodological research is needed. All neuropathic pain is associated with poor general health, comparable with other severe chronic diseases. The importance of newly proposed risk factors, including genetic factors, still needs to be assessed at a population level.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2012
Clinical TrialInpatient palliative care and patient pain: pre- and post-outcomes.
Hospitalized patients with serious illness often receive inadequate pain and symptom management at the end of life. ⋯ To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to follow IPC patient pain after hospital discharge. Findings support IPC teams' effectiveness in managing pain during hospitalization but suggest a lack of continuity in pain management following discharge. Research exploring IPC patient post-discharge transition experiences will likely improve understanding of post-discharge pain outcomes.