European journal of pain : EJP
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Menstrual cycle phase does not influence gender differences in experimental pain sensitivity.
Influence of menstrual cycle phase on experimental pain sensitivity in women and on gender differences in pain sensitivity was examined in 48 men and 49 women in response to cold pressor, heat, and ischemic pain. Each woman was tested at three points in their menstrual cycle in randomized order, the early follicular, late follicular, and luteal phases, while men were also tested three times, controlling for number of days between test sessions. ⋯ However, pain perception during each task was not influenced by the menstrual cycle in women, nor did the menstrual cycle influence the magnitude of the gender differences in pain sensitivity. These results indicate that although women are more sensitive to a variety of noxious stimuli than men, menstrual cycle phase does not appear to moderate those differences in healthy men and women.
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Comparative Study
Effectiveness of a multimodal inpatient treatment for pediatric chronic pain: a comparison between children and adolescents.
To evaluate short and long-term treatment outcome of children (7-10 years) in comparison to adolescents (11-18 years) with disabling chronic pain following multimodal inpatient pain treatment. ⋯ Children display similar pain-characteristics to adolescents when entering inpatient treatment. A multimodal inpatient program appears to stop the the long-term vicious cycle of disability and pain for both children and adolescents. The demonstrated gender differences raise issues for further research and the possibility of additional pain management strategies for girls.
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The impact of pain beliefs on coping and adjustment is well established. However, less is known about how beliefs unrelated to pain might impact upon this experience. In particular, just world beliefs could impact upon and be influenced by chronic pain, given that pain is not experienced in a vacuum but instead is experienced in a social context where justice issues are potentially salient. ⋯ When interaction terms relating to personal and general just world beliefs were entered simultaneously into regression analyses, the personal just world belief did not predict psychological distress. However, pain intensity positively predicted psychological distress at low but not high levels of the general just world belief, while disability predicted psychological distress at low and high levels of this belief. This suggests that a strong general just world belief has implications for psychological well-being in chronic pain, and as such this belief may occupy a potential coping function in this context.
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We compared the methodology and the recommendations of evidence-based guidelines for the management of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) to give an orientation within the continuously growing number of reviews on the therapy of FMS. Systematic searches up to April 2008 of the US-American National Guideline Clearing House, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) and Medline were conducted. Three evidence-based guidelines for the management of FMS published by professional organizations were identified: The American Pain Society (APS) (2005), the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) (2007), and the AWMF (2008). ⋯ In contrast, EULAR assigned the highest level of recommendation to a set of to pharmacological treatment. Although there was some consistency in the recommendations regarding pharmacological treatments among the three guidelines, the APS and AWMF guidelines assigned higher ratings to CBT and multicomponent treatments. The inconsistencies across guidelines are likely attributable to the criteria used for study inclusion, weighting systems, and composition of the panels.
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Comparative Study
Subgrouping low back pain: a comparison of the STarT Back Tool with the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire.
Clinicians require brief, practical tools to help identify low back pain (LBP) subgroups requiring early, targeted secondary prevention. The STarT Back Tool (SBT) was recently validated to subgroup LBP patients into early treatment pathways. ⋯ The SBT baseline psychometrics performed similarly to the OMPSQ, but the SBT is shorter and easier to score and is an appropriate alternative for identifying high risk LBP patients in primary care.