Journal of pain and symptom management
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Chronic pain remains prevalent in HIV+ adults despite widespread antiretroviral use. Pain continues to be underrecognized and undertreated in this population. In Thailand, similar to the West, HIV care is transitioning toward chronic disease management. Despite the importance of pain management in chronic HIV, the prevalence of pain and adequacy of pain management is unknown in HIV+ adults in Thailand. ⋯ Despite widespread antiretroviral use, pain remains common and undertreated in HIV+ adults in Thailand. Undertreated pain negatively impacts quality of life. It is imperative that policy makers and HIV caregivers address this treatment gap to advance the care of people living with HIV in Thailand.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2013
Episodic and continuous breathlessness: a new categorization of breathlessness.
Unlike pain, where the concept of breakthrough and background pain has been widely characterized and defined, breathlessness as a symptom has not yet been fully explored and has been rarely categorized. ⋯ Participants categorize their breathlessness by time and triggers. The categorization needs further verification, similar to that already established in pain, and can be used as a new evidence-based categorization to advance our understanding of this under-researched, yet high impact, symptom to optimize management.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2013
Opioid prescribing practices before and after initiation of palliative care in outpatients.
Prescription Monitoring Programs (PMPs) are being developed and implemented in many states to deter abuse, diversion, and overdose, and physicians may use PMPs to help guide their treatment choices for individual patients. ⋯ Data from a PMP proved useful in understanding the changes in a population of patients. Favorable changes were observed in prescribing practices and pain outcomes.