Pain

Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is frequently reported among adolescents and children and a common reason for consultation in primary care. Our aim is to examine its prevalence in 6-year old children in a general population and to assess associations with physical and psychosocial factors. Data from the Generation R Study, a population based cohort, was used. Prevalence and characteristics of MSK pain were assessed with parent-reported questionnaires at 6-years of age (N=6200). Demographics and data on physical activity, sedentary behaviors, previous reported MSK pain and behavioral problems were extracted from questionnaires...

Race disparities in pain care are well-documented. Given that the majority of Black patients are treated by White providers, patient-provider racial discordance is one hypothesized contributor to these disparities. Research and theory suggest that providers' trait-level intergroup anxiety impacts their state-level comfort while treating patients, which, in turn, impacts their pain treatment decisions. To test these hypothesized relationships, we conducted a planned secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial of a perspective-taking intervention to reduce pain treatment disparities...

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common complaint among young sports active adolescents. This study evaluated the longitudinal changes in pro-nociceptive and anti-nociceptive mechanisms in young adolescents with PFP, their impact on prognosis and responsiveness to treatment. Adolescents (N=151, aged 10-14 years) diagnosed with PFP were compared to age-matched controls (N=50) and subsequently tracked while participating in an intervention focussed on activity modification. They underwent quantitative sensory testing at baseline (pre-intervention), four weeks (during initial treatment), and twelve weeks (following treatment)...

Alleviating chronic pain is challenging, due to lack of drugs that effectively inhibit nociceptors without off target effects on motor or central neurons. Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) contain nociceptive and non-nociceptive neurons. Drug screening on cultured DRG neurons, rather than cell lines, allows the identification of drugs most potent on nociceptors with no effects on non-nociceptors (as a proxy for unwanted side effects on CNS and motor neurons). However, screening using DRG neurons is currently a low-throughput process and there is a need for assays to speed this process for analgesic drug discovery...

Increasing numbers survive cancers in childhood and adolescence. Long-term survivors of cancers in adulthood have increased prevalence of pain and consumption of analgesics. It is not established whether long-term survivors of cancers in childhood and adolescence also have an increased use of analgesics. However, based on increased use of antidepressants and anxiolytics in long-term survivors of cancers in childhood and adolescence, we hypothesized that this group also had increased use of analgesics. Based on data from the two nationwide registers the Cancer Registry of Norway and the Norwegian Prescription Database a cohort of 5585 (52% males) long-term survivors of cancers in childhood, adolescence and early adult life was established...

Prescribers are often confronted with the decision to escalate opioid doses to achieve adequate analgesia. Understanding the impact of dose escalation on pain intensity is warranted. Using a retrospective cohort study design, Veterans with chronic pain and chronic opioid therapy were identified. Opioid dose escalators (>20% increase in average morphine milligram equivalent [MME] daily dose) were compared to dose maintainers (±20% change in average MME daily dose) assessed over two consecutive 6 month windows...

It has recently been shown that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) contributes to the pathogenesis of pain. We scanned genetic markers within genes coding for receptors of the EGFR family (EGFR, ERBB2, ERBB3 and ERBB4) and their ligands (AREG, BTC, EGF, EPGN, EREG, HBEGF, MUC4, NRG1, NRG2, NRG3, NRG4 and TGFA) for association with self-reported pain intensity in patients with chronic facial pain who participated in the Orofacial Pain: Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment (OPPERA) cohort. We found that only epiregulin (EREG) was associated with pain...

Pain disparities based on race, sex, age, and socioeconomic status have been well documented. This study aimed to examine interactions among these sociodemographic factors on self-reported bodily pain in an urban community sample to assess whether membership in multiple at-risk groups confers greater risk for pain independent of depressive symptomatology. Participants (N=1173) were enrolled in the epidemiological Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study, and reported experiences of pain in various body sites...

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain is a serious adverse effect of chemotherapeutic agents. Clinical evidence suggests that stress is a risk factor for development and/or worsening of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). We evaluated the impact of stress and stress axis mediators on paclitaxel CIPN in male and female rats. Paclitaxel produced mechanical hyperalgesia, over the 4-day course of administration, peaking by day 7, and still present by day 28, with no significant difference between male and female rats...

Children's experience of chronic pain is influenced by the psychological and behavioural responses of their parents. However, the vast majority of research has been cross-sectional, precluding examination of how these dynamic relationships unfold over time. This study used a micro-longitudinal design to examine the daily relationships between parent mood and protective responses and child chronic pain. We also examined the moderating roles of child and parent pain catastrophizing to determine how the affective-motivational context may alter the influence of parent factors...

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), commonly known as COX-1/COX-2 inhibitors, can be effective in treating mild to moderate migraine headache. However, the mechanism by which these drugs act in migraine is not known, nor is the specific contribution of COX-1 versus COX-2 known. We sought to investigate these unknowns using celecoxib, which selectively inhibits the enzymatic activity of COX-2, by determining its effects on several migraine-associated vascular and inflammatory events. Using in vivo two-photon microscopy, we determined intraperitoneal celecoxib effects on CSD-induced blood vessel responses, plasma protein extravasation, and immune cell activation in the dura and pia of mice and rats...

Most centrally-acting migraine preventive drugs suppress frequency and velocity of cortical spreading depression (CSD). The purpose of the current study was to determine how the new class of peripherally acting migraine preventive drug (i.e., the anti-CGRP-mAbs) affect CSD - an established animal model of migraine aura, which affects about 1/3 of people with migraine - when allowed to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB). Using standard electrocorticogram recording techniques and rats in which the BBB was intentionally compromised, we found that when the BBB was opened, the anti-CGRP-mAb fremanezumab did not prevent the induction, occurrence or propagation of a single wave of CSD induced by a pinprick, but that both fremanezumab and its isotype were capable of slowing down the propagation velocity of CSD and shortening the period of profound depression of spontaneous cortical activity that followed the spreading depolarization...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

This study models the economic costs of informal caring for people with back pain, using a microsimulation model, Care&WorkMOD, from 2015 to 2030. Care&WorkMOD was based on three national Australian Surveys of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDACs) (2003, 2009, 2012) datasets for individuals aged 15 to 64 years old. Estimated national income loss due to caring for people with back pain was AU$258 million in 2015, increasing to $398 million in 2030 (54% increase). Lost income tax revenue to the Australian government due to informal care of people with back pain was estimated to be AU$78 million in 2015, increasing to AU$118 million in 2030 (50% increase), and additional welfare payments were estimated to rise from $132 million in 2015 to AU$180 in 2030 (36% increase)...

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder. Gastric hypersensitivity (GHS) is a hallmark of this disorder but the cellular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Stressors during gestational period could have effects on the offspring's tissue structure and function, which may predispose to gastrointestinal diseases. The aim of this study was to test whether prenatal maternal stress (PMS) induces GHS and to investigate role of acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC)/ nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling by examining Asic1 methylation status in adult offspring rats...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Painful distal symmetrical polyneuropathy is common in HIV and is associated with reduced quality of life. Research has not explored the experience of neuropathic pain in people with HIV from a person-centred perspective. Therefore, a qualitative interview study was conducted to more deeply understand the experience and impact of neuropathic pain in this population. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 people with HIV and peripheral neuropathic pain symptoms. Interviews explored the impact of pain and participants' pain management strategies...

Genetic variation in melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) has a known role in red hair. Studies on responses to noxious stimuli in red-haired individuals have also been conducted, with mixed findings. To investigate a possible divergence between variants responsible for red hair and pain sensitivity, we performed a gene-wide association analysis in the Orofacial Pain: Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment (OPPERA) cohort. All genotyped (17) MC1R variants were tested for association with heat pain temporal summation and sensitivity...

Conventional MRI of patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) does not typically reveal associated brain lesions. Here, we identify a unique group of TN patients that present with a single brainstem lesion, who do not fulfill diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis (MS). We aim to define this new clinical syndrome, which we term TN associated with solitary pontine lesion (SPL-TN), using a clinical and neuroimaging approach. We identified 24 cases of SPL-TN, 18 of which had clinical follow-up for assessment of treatment response...

(N = 231): This longitudinal study aimed at exploring the direct and indirect relationships between organizational, psychosocial, biomechanical, and personal factors and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in French workers. Between 2002 and 2005, 3,710 workers were included in the Cosali cohort. Between 2007 and 2010, 1,611 workers were re-examined using the same standardized clinical protocol. Subjects free from CTS at baseline were studied (804 men, 563 women). We used structural equation models to examine the relationships between incident CTS cases and organizational (machine-paced work or work pace dependent on customers' demand), psychosocial (Job strain model), biomechanical (Borg's RPE, wrist bending, pinching, hand-transmitted vibrations) and personal factors at baseline...