The Clinical journal of pain
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There is little agreement about a differential response of men and women to opioid analgesics. Some experimental and clinical studies have shown that women have a better response to opioids, others have found no difference, and still others have found opioids to be more effective analgesics for men than women. ⋯ Men and women presenting to the Emergency Department did not have a differential response to a single weight-based dose of morphine for alleviation of acute pain. Women without baseline nausea had more adverse events than men.
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Clinical Trial
Decision analysis for epidural labor analgesia with Multiattribute Utility (MAU) model.
Epidural analgesia (EA) is an effective and safe method to relieve labor pain. Little is known about the factors associated with decision on EA. We applied Multiattribute Utility (MAU) theory to ascertain possible factors on which we based to predict whether parturients would receive EA or not (non-EA) during their labor. ⋯ These findings suggest that our MAU model can predict pre-labor decision and final decision of parturients by the incorporation of correlates with respect to knowledge and attitude.
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Comparative Study
The role of TNF-alpha in patients with chronic low back pain-a prospective comparative longitudinal study.
In this prospective longitudinal clinical study with a matched-pair design, we evaluated the role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and its clinical relevance in patients with chronic low back pain. ⋯ TNF-alpha seems to have a significant role in patients with chronic low back pain. However, the pathophysiology of this process, the clinical relevance of TNF-alpha and, especially, its part in a potential therapy regimen in these patients need to be more closely examined and defined in additional studies.
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Investigations of the association between chronic pain conditions and suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA) have rarely taken the effect of mental disorders into account and have been limited by nonrepresentative samples. The present study used a large population-based sample to investigate the association between chronic pain conditions and SI and SA. ⋯ This is the first study to demonstrate the association between several chronic pain conditions and SI and SA while adjusting for mental disorders in a nationally representative sample. Moreover, this study demonstrates that among individuals with a mental disorder, having a chronic pain condition significantly increased the association with SI and SA.
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To study the prevalence of upper extremity disorders (UEDs) and neck as a total and complaints of the arm, neck and/or shoulder (CANS) not caused by acute trauma or any systemic disease as defined in the CANS model in the open population and to assess sociodemographic and health characteristics of chronic symptoms. ⋯ UEDs and CANS frequently occur in the open population. Excluding acute traumas and systemic diseases reduced the prevalence of CANS and resulted in a relatively healthier population. A compound definition of CANS seems indicated because of the large overlap of affected anatomic sites.