The Clinical journal of pain
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This study estimates the costs to society of prescription opioid analgesic (RxO) abuse in the United States. ⋯ The costs of RxO abuse represent a substantial economic burden. Rising trends of RxO abuse suggest an escalating economic and public health burden in coming years in the United States, and potentially, elsewhere.
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Many studies report a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in women than in men. This paper presents an overview of sex differences in musculoskeletal pain with specific attention for: different parameters for duration of musculoskeletal pain (ie, 1-y period prevalence, point prevalence, prevalence of chronic pain, and prevalence of persistent chronic pain); and (2) different anatomic pain sites. ⋯ The present study shows that women have higher prevalence rates of musculoskeletal pain in most anatomic pain sites, no matter the duration of musculoskeletal pain. Future research should focus on explaining these sex differences with the ultimate goal to develop better prevention and management strategies for musculoskeletal pain in both men and women.
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The present retrospective case review study sought to analyze the cost-utility, expressed in cost/quality-adjusted life years (QALY), of current chronic spinal pain treatments. In addition, it expands upon previously published data evaluating the efficacy of interdisciplinary pain management in relation to medication management. ⋯ Average cost-utility ratios for both interdisciplinary treatment groups, ranging from 57,627 dollars /QALY to 75,885 dollars /QALY, were within established cost-effective parameters (20,000 dollars to 100,000 dollars /QALY, generally considered a good value), whereas cost-utility ratios for the standard care treatment groups were not interpretable because of a decrease in QALYs from pretreatment to posttreatment.
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Clinical Trial
Pain-related catastrophizing in healthy women is associated with greater temporal summation of and reduced habituation to thermal pain.
Pain-related coping strategies, especially catastrophizing, play an influential role in shaping pain responses. However, although numerous studies have examined the impact of catastrophizing on chronic pain outcomes, relatively few have evaluated relationships between individual differences in pain-related catastrophizing and pain perception, with most of those studies examining only pain threshold or pain tolerance. We assessed, for the first time, catastrophizing's association with the magnitude of temporal summation of pain, a primary marker for central nervous system sensitizability. ⋯ These preliminary findings highlight the importance of coping in shaping individuals' responses to noxious stimuli, and suggest that interventions that decrease pain catastrophizing may reduce the burden of acute and chronic pain.
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This study evaluated sleep impairment associated with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), a neuropathic pain condition. Sleep is of critical concern for DPN because sleep impairment and its comorbidities may influence type 2 diabetes progression. ⋯ Painful DPN is associated with considerable sleep impairment. Given the recognized association between sleep impairment, type 2 diabetes and metabolic and affective disturbance, and the known adverse impact of affective disturbance on diabetes self-care, addressing these features-pain, sleep, and affective disturbance-is an important aspect of care for patients with painful DPN.