Journal of psychosomatic research
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The most reliable evidence for evaluating healthcare interventions comes from well-designed and conducted randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The extent to which published RCTs reflect the efficacy of interventions, however, depends on the completeness and accuracy of published results. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement, initially developed in 1996, provides guidelines intended to improve the transparency of published RCT reports. A policy of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, initiated in 2005, requires clinical trials published in member journals to be registered in publicly accessible registries prior to patient enrollment. The objective of this study was to assess the clarity of outcome reporting, proportion of registered trials, and adequacy of outcome registration in RCTs published in top behavioral health journals. ⋯ Greater attention to outcome reporting and trial registration by researchers, peer reviewers, and journal editors will increase the likelihood that effective behavioral health interventions are readily identified and made available to patients.
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The present study examines the possibility that a chronic pain condition, such as fibromyalgia, was associated with deficits in decision making and associative learning. ⋯ These findings indicate that pain and depressive symptoms in fibromyalgia might lead to significant deficits in emotionally charged cognitive tasks. Furthermore, it suggests that chronic pain might impose a high cost on executive control, undermining mainly affective processes involved in learning, memory, attention, and decision-making.
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This study involves a comprehensive investigation of autonomic cardiovascular regulation in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) at rest and during painful stimulation and its association with pain indices. ⋯ The data suggest impaired autonomic cardiovascular regulation in FMS in terms of reduced sympathetic and parasympathetic influences, as well as blunted sympathetic reactivity to acute stress. The association between baroreflex function and pain experience reflects the pain inhibition mediated by the baroreceptor system. Given the reduced baroreflex sensitivity in FMS, one may assume deficient ascending pain inhibition arising from the cardiovascular system, which may contribute to the exaggerated pain sensitivity of FMS.
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The objective of this work was to examine the relationship between illness perception, health status, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a cohort of adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). ⋯ Adults with CF report a high understanding of their disease, feel that CF has significant consequences, and endorse both personal and treatment control over their outcomes. Illness perceptions did not vary with increased age or worsening disease severity, suggesting that illness perceptions may develop during adolescence. Illness perceptions were associated with psychosocial, but not physical, aspects of HRQOL. Efforts to modify illness perceptions as part of routine clinical care and counseling may lead to improved quality of life for adults with CF.
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Attentional bias to emotion- and illness-related information plays a prominent role in many mental disorders, particularly major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Using the emotional Stroop task we investigated which variables beyond aspects of patients' psychopathology might influence reaction times and interference in the Stroop test. ⋯ The present study provides further support for the idea that the experience of childhood trauma influences adult neuropsychological performance. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the ability to suppress emotions may be an important predictor of attentional bias.