European journal of pain : EJP
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Individuals born preterm are at risk of later developmental problems and long-term morbidities. There is conflicting evidence regarding musculoskeletal pain in young adulthood. We investigated the prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal pain in young adults born across the range of preterm birth compared with a term-born reference group. ⋯ Young adults born preterm do not have increased rates of musculoskeletal pain. Our findings rather suggest that these rates may be slightly lower than among those born at term.
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In complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), altered perception of the affected hand and neglect-like symptoms of the affected body side are common features. In this study, we presented tactile stimuli to the affected hands in CRPS patients and matched healthy controls. ⋯ CRPS patients performed poorly in localizing positions on their affected hands via pointing and exhibited increased spatiotemporal integration. The presented method may prove useful in diagnostics as well as psychophysical and neurofunctional research on CRPS and other chronic pain disorders.
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Sensorimotor conflicts are well known to induce sensory disturbances. However, explanations as to why patients with chronic pain are more sensitive to sensorimotor conflicts remain elusive. The main objectives of this study were (a) to assess and compare the sensory disturbances induced by sensorimotor conflict in complex regional pain syndrome (n = 38), fibromyalgia (n = 36), arthritis (n = 34) as well as in healthy volunteers (HV) (n = 32); (b) to assess whether these disturbances were related to the intensity and duration of pain, or to other clinical variables assessed using questionnaires (abnormalities in sensory perception, depression and anxiety); and (c) to categorize different subgroups of conflict-induced sensory disturbances. ⋯ Individuals with complex regional pain syndrome and fibromyalgia were more sensitive to sensorimotor conflicts than arthritis patients and controls. Moreover, conflict-induced sensory disturbances were specific to higher pain intensity and higher sensory abnormalities in all groups, suggesting that pain lowers the threshold for the detection of sensorimotor conflicts.
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Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) might predispose to and resilience might protect against chronic noncancer pain (CNCP). We studied whether ACE are positively associated with CNCP, whether resilience was negatively associated with CNCP and whether resilience buffered a potential association of ACE with CNCP. ⋯ There is no pain-proneness due to adverse childhood experiences for any and disabling chronic noncancer pain. Resilience does not protect against any and disabling chronic noncancer pain. Older age is the strongest predictor of any and disabling chronic noncancer pain.
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Translating efficacy of analgesic drugs from animal models to humans remains challenging. Reasons are multifaceted, but lack of sufficiently rigorous preclinical study design criteria and phenotypically relevant models may be partly responsible. To begin to address this fundamental issue, we assessed the analgesic efficacy of morphine in three inbred rat strains (selected based on stress reactivity and affective/pain phenotypes), and outbred Sprague Dawley (SD) rats supplied from two vendors. ⋯ The choice of rat strain used in preclinical pain research can profoundly affect the outcome of experiments in relation to (a) nociceptive threshold responses, and (b) efficacy to analgesic treatment, in assays of acute and tonic inflammatory nociceptive pain.