Articles: pain-measurement.
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Pain sensitization in knee osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with greater symptom severity and poorer clinical outcomes. Measures that identify pain sensitization and are accessible to use in clinical practice have been suggested to enable more targeted treatments. This merits further investigation. This study examines the relationship between quantitative sensory testing (QST) and clinical measures of pain sensitization in people with knee OA. ⋯ MTPC demonstrated the strongest associations with QST measures and may be the most promising proxy measure to detect pain sensitization clinically.
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J Intensive Care Med · May 2020
Observational StudyComparison of Self-Reported and Behavioral Pain Assessment Tools in Critically Ill Patients.
Self-reported and behavioral pain assessment scales are often used interchangeably in critically ill patients due to fluctuations in mental status. The correlation between scales is not well elucidated. The purpose of this study was to describe the correlation between self-reported and behavioral pain scores in critically ill patients. ⋯ Self-reported pain scales and behavioral pain scales cannot be used interchangeably. Current validated behavioral pain scales may not accurately reflect self-reported pain in critically ill patients.
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The Nociception Coma Scale-Revised (NCS-R) was developed to help assess pain in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Several studies have shown its sensitivity in assessing response to acute noxious stimuli. However, they failed to determine a reliable cut-off score that could be used to infer pain processing in these patients. ⋯ We observed a preserved metabolism in the left insula in patients with potential pain compared with FDG-PET confirmed UWS. PERSPECTIVES: Our data suggest that using the cut-off score of 5 could be helpful to improve pain management in patients with DOC. Future studies should focus on patients showing scores below this cut-off to better characterize their profile and improve care.
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The present study assessed somatosensory changes related to trigeminal nerve damage using extensive evaluation tools and assessed the effect of such damage on the patients' psychosocial status and quality of life compared with healthy participants. ⋯ The results from the present study showed presence of varied somatosensory abnormalities when assessed using psychophysical and electrophysiological investigations and a significantly impaired psychosocial status.
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Epidemiological studies suggest that women are not only at a higher risk for developing knee osteoarthritis (KOA), but also report greater symptom severity compared to men. One potential underlying mechanism of these sex differences may be exaggerated inflammatory responses to pain among women compared to men. The present study examined sex differences in interleukin-6 (IL-6) response over time following experimental pain testing. ⋯ Given that KOA is a chronic condition, and individuals with KOA frequently experience pain, these sex differences in IL-6 reactivity may contribute to the maintenance and/or exacerbation of KOA symptoms. PERSPECTIVES: The present study demonstrates that women, when compared to men, exhibit greater IL-6 reactivity after exposure to laboratory-evoked pain. Such sex differences may explain the mechanisms underlying women's higher chronic pain risk and pain perception, as well as provide further insight in developing personalized pain interventions.