Pain
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Multicenter Study
Distinctiveness of psychological obstacles to recovery in low back pain patients in primary care.
Many psychological factors have been suggested to be important obstacles to recovery from low back pain, yet most studies focus on a limited number of factors. We compared a more comprehensive range of 20 factors in predicting outcome in primary care. Consecutive patients consulting 8 general practices were eligible to take part in a prospective cohort study; 1591 provided data at baseline and 810 at 6 months. ⋯ Thus, a small number of psychological factors are strongly predictive of outcome in primary care low back pain patients. There is clear redundancy in the measurement of psychological factors. These findings should help to focus targeted interventions for back pain in the future.
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Multicenter Study
The Nociception Coma Scale: a new tool to assess nociception in disorders of consciousness.
Assessing behavioral responses to nociception is difficult in severely brain-injured patients recovering from coma. We here propose a new scale developed for assessing nociception in vegetative (VS) and minimally conscious (MCS) coma survivors, the Nociception Coma Scale (NCS), and explore its concurrent validity, inter-rater agreement and sensitivity. Concurrent validity was assessed by analyzing behavioral responses of 48 post-comatose patients to a noxious stimulation (pressure applied to the fingernail) (28 VS and 20 MCS; age range 20-82 years; 17 of traumatic etiology). ⋯ Finally, a significant difference between NCS total scores was observed as a function of diagnosis (i.e., VS or MCS). The NCS constitutes a sensitive clinical tool for assessing nociception in severely brain-injured patients. This scale constitutes the first step to a better management of patients recovering from coma.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of ABT-594 in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain.
ABT-594 is a neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (NNR) agonist that exhibits potent analgesic activity in preclinical models of acute, chronic, and neuropathic pain. The purpose of this phase 2, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to evaluate the safety and analgesic efficacy of ABT-594 in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP). A total of 266 DPNP patients were randomized 1:1:1:1 to receive placebo, ABT-594 150 microg BID, ABT-594 225 microg BID, or ABT-594 300 microg BID. ⋯ However, adverse event (AE) dropout rates were significantly higher in all three ABT-594 treatment groups (28% for 150 microg BID, 46% for 225 microg BID, and 66% for 300 microg BID) than for the placebo group (9%). Consistent with the expected side-effect profile of NNR agonists, the most frequently reported AEs were nausea, dizziness, vomiting, abnormal dreams, and asthenia. This study establishes proof of concept for NNR agonists as a new class of compounds for treating neuropathic pain.
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Although many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) complain of trigeminal neuralgia (TN), its cause and mechanisms are still debatable. In a multicentre controlled study, we collected 130 patients with MS: 50 patients with TN, 30 patients with trigeminal sensory disturbances other than TN (ongoing pain, dysaesthesia, or hypoesthesia), and 50 control patients. All patients underwent pain assessment, trigeminal reflex testing, and dedicated MRI scans. ⋯ We conclude that the most likely cause of MS-related TN is a pontine plaque damaging the primary afferents. Nevertheless, in some patients a neurovascular contact may act as a concurring mechanism. The other sensory disturbances, including ongoing pain and dysaesthesia, may arise from damage to the second-order neurons in the spinal trigeminal complex.
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Multicenter Study
Childhood psychosocial stressors and adult onset arthritis: broad spectrum risk factors and allostatic load.
Neural, endocrine, and immune stress mediators are hypothesized to increase risks of diverse chronic diseases, including arthritis. Retrospective data from the World Mental Health Surveys (N=18,309) were employed to assess whether adult onset of arthritis was associated with childhood adversities and early onset psychological disorder. Cox proportional hazard models assessed the association of number of childhood adversities and the presence of early onset psychological disorder with arthritis age of onset. ⋯ Early onset depressive and/or anxiety disorder was associated with an increased risk of adult onset arthritis after controlling for childhood adversities (HR=1.43, CI=1.28, 1.61). Since psychosocial stressors may be broad spectrum risk factors that increase risks of diverse chronic conditions in later life (e.g. arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and chronic pain), prospective studies of childhood psychosocial stressors may be most productive if multiple disease outcomes are assessed in the same study. Results from this study provide methodological guidance for future prospective studies of the relationship between childhood psychosocial stressors and subsequent risk of adult onset arthritis.