Pain Reports最新文献

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000878.].

Introduction: Central sensitization (CS) involves dysfunctional central nervous system pain modulation resulting in heightened pain perception. Central sensitization is not commonly assessed among patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), despite the fact that pain has been implicated in the development, maintenance, and relapse of OUD and chronic opioid use may produce opioid-induced hyperalgesia. Central sensitization is a plausibly important mechanism underlying the complex relationship between OUD and chronic pain. However, this premise is largely untested.

Methods: Participants with OUD (n = 141) were recruited from an academic addiction treatment center in Columbus, Ohio. An established surrogate measure of CS, the American College of Rheumatology 2011 Fibromyalgia Survey Criteria, was administered using electronic survey. Participants also responded to questions about pain interference (Brief Pain Inventory), quality of life (RAND-36), and items regarding pain beliefs and expectations of pain and addiction treatment. Descriptive analyses, Spearman rho correlations, and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed.

Results: Hypothesized relationships were confirmed between degree of CS, pain interference, and health-related quality of life. Degree of CS was also positively correlated with greater endorsement of pain as a reason for the onset, maintenance, and escalation of OUD; treatment delay; and OUD relapse. Participants with the American College of Rheumatology 2011 Fibromyalgia Survey Criteria ≥13 had significantly greater endorsement of pain as a reason for delaying OUD treatment, continuing and increasing opioid use, and precipitating OUD relapse.

Conclusions: This study provides early evidence CS may underlie previously observed connections between clinically salient features of chronic pain and OUD, potentially informing future mechanistic research and precision treatment.

Opioid misuse is at a crisis level. In response to this epidemic, the National Institutes of Health has funded $945 million in research through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Pain Management Initiative, including funding to the Vanderbilt Recruitment Innovation Center (RIC) to strategize methods to catalyze participant recruitment. The RIC, recognizing the challenges presented to clinical researchers in recruiting individuals experiencing pain, conducted a review of evidence in the literature on successful participant recruitment methods for chronic pain trials, in preparation for supporting the HEAL Pain trials. Study design as it affects recruitment was reviewed, with issues such as sufficient sample size, impact of placebo, pain symptom instability, and cohort characterization being identified as problems. Potential solutions found in the literature include targeted electronic health record phenotyping, use of alternative study designs, and greater clinician education and involvement. For retention, the literature reports successful strategies that include maintaining a supportive staff, allowing virtual study visits, and providing treatment flexibility within the trial. Community input on study design to identify potential obstacles to recruitment and retention was found to help investigators avoid pitfalls and enhance trust, especially when recruiting underrepresented minority populations. Our report concludes with a description of generalizable resources the RIC has developed or adapted to enhance recruitment and retention in the HEAL Pain studies. These resources include, among others, a Recruitment and Retention Plan Template, a Competing Trials Tool, and MyCap, a mobile research application that interfaces with Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap).

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) affect over half of the adults in the United States and are known to contribute to the development of a wide variety of negative health and behavioral outcomes. The consequences of ACE exposure have been studied in patient populations that include individuals with gynecologic, orthopedic, metabolic, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal conditions among others. Findings indicate that ACEs not only increase risks for chronic pain but also influence emotional responses to pain in many of these individuals. A growing body of research suggests that these effects may be the result of long-lasting changes induced by ACEs in neurobiological systems during early development. However, one area that is still largely unexplored concerns the effects of ACEs on burn patients, who account for almost 450,000 hospitalizations in the United States annually. Patients with severe burns frequently suffer from persistent pain that affects their well-being long after the acute injury, but considerable variability has been observed in the experience of pain across individuals. A literature search was conducted in CINAHL and PubMed to evaluate the possibility that previously documented ACE-induced changes in biological, psychological, and social processes might contribute to these differences. Findings suggest that better understanding of the role that ACEs play in burn outcomes could lead to improved treatment strategies, but further empirical research is needed to identify the predictors and mechanisms that dictate individual differences in pain outcomes in patients with ACE exposure and to clarify the role that ACE-related alterations play in early healing and recovery from burn injuries.

Introduction: Chronic pain affects more than 1 in 5 American adults, and its effects are not evenly distributed throughout the population.

Methods: Using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a household-based annual survey of self-reported health status of U.S. adults, this cross-sectional study describes differences in the prevalence of chronic pain and its effects across socioeconomic groups.

Results: In univariate analyses, chronic pain was more prevalent among female respondents, persons with lower educational attainment, non-Hispanic White individuals, and those who were insured as well as those who were married. After accounting for all other demographic factors, age, female sex, and lower educational attainment were associated with higher odds of having chronic pain, whereas Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black race were associated with lower odds. Despite lower odds of having chronic pain, Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black race were associated with greater odds of reporting more severe pain than White race. There were no significant differences across race in the effects of pain on life, work, or family, although female sex and lower educational attainment were associated with greater effects of pain on these domains. Educational attainment was the only characteristic associated with greater odds of ineffective pain management after accounting for all other demographic factors.

Conclusions: Implications for reducing disparities in the treatment of chronic pain are discussed.

Introduction: Current methods of determining minimally important differences (MIDs) in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) do not incorporate individual patient values.

Objectives: This study tested the feasibility of having cancer patients define a personally meaningful change in pain intensity, a method we have termed Precision PROs.

Methods: Adults with cancer and pain (n = 231) completed an electronic questionnaire twice over 2 weeks. Participants were then given their pain intensity scores with an explanation of score meaning. Participants then defined their own MIDs for an increase and decrease in pain intensity. Participants also answered 3 questions testing their understanding of the MID concept.

Results: The majority of participants could define an individually meaningful increase (97% [n = 223]) and individually meaningful decrease (98% [n = 226]) in pain intensity. Seventy-two percent of participants (n = 166) answered all test questions correctly and 26% (n = 60) answered 2 of 3 correctly. Using the individual MID, 32% (95% CI: 25.3, 40.0) of the sample experienced a meaningful change between the 2 surveys, more than other methods (z-test: 14%, 95% CI: 9.4, 20.6; distribution-based method: 24%, 95% CI: 17.7, 31.1).

Conclusions: This study showed the feasibility of the Precision PRO individual MID, which could be used in clinical care or clinical trials. Further studies are needed to compare the individual MID to current methods.