Experimental Pain Responses in Children With Chronic Pain and in Healthy Children: How Do They Differ?

Experimental pain responses in children with chronic pain and in healthy children: How do they differ?

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Pain Res Manag. 2012 Mar-Apr; 17(2): 103-9
Tsao JC, Evans S, Seidman LC, Zeltzer LK

Extant research comparing laboratory pain responses of children with chronic pain with healthy controls is mixed, with some studies indicating lower pain responsivity for controls and others showing no differences. Few studies have included different pain modalities or assessment protocols.To compare pain responses among 26 children (18 girls) with chronic pain and matched controls (mean age 14.8 years), to laboratory tasks involving thermal heat, pressure and cold pain. Responses to cold pain were assessed using two different protocols: an initial trial of unspecified duration and a second trial of specified duration.Four trials of pressure pain and of thermal heat pain stimuli, all of unspecified duration, were administered, as well as the two cold pain trials. Heart rate and blood pressure were assessed at baseline and after completion of the pain tasks.Pain tolerance and pain intensity did not differ between children with chronic pain and controls for the unspecified trials. For the specified cold pressor trial, 92% of children with chronic pain completed the entire trial compared with only 61.5% of controls. Children with chronic pain exhibited a trend toward higher baseline and postsession heart rate and reported more anxiety and depression symptoms compared with control children.Contextual factors related to the fixed trial may have exerted a greater influence on pain tolerance in children with chronic pain relative to controls. Children with chronic pain demonstrated a tendency toward increased arousal in anticipation of and following pain induction compared with controls.
HubMed – depression

Evaluation of leptin levels among fibromyalgia patients before and after three months of treatment, in comparison with healthy controls.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Pain Res Manag. 2012 Mar-Apr; 17(2): 89-92
Ablin JN, Aronov N, Shimon I, Kanety H, Pariente C, Aloush V, Elkayam O, Levartovsky D

Leptin, an adipocyte-produced cytokine, interacts with various hormones, including those of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by widespread pain accompanied by tenderness. The pathogenesis involves a disturbance in pain processing and transmission by the central nervous system, leading to a general increase in pain perception.To analyze potential changes in leptin levels among female fibromyalgia patients compared with healthy controls, and to evaluate the changes in leptin levels during treatment.Sixteen female fibromyalgia patients were recruited. Patients underwent clinical evaluation, physical examination, including manual dolorimetry, and were evaluated regarding quality of life, pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression. Plasma leptin levels were determined by ELISA. Patients were offered standard treatment for fibromyalgia. Clinical evaluation and leptin determination were repeated after three months.No significant difference was observed between leptin levels among fibromyalgia patients and controls; no significant correlation was observed between leptin levels and clinical parameters reflecting fibromyalgia severity; and no significant change was observed in leptin levels over three months of treatment. These results did not change after adjustment of leptin levels for body mass index values.The results of the present study do not support the existence of a significant relationship between leptin and fibromyalgia pathogenesis. Increasing the sample size or examining the interaction between leptin and additional hormones?mediators of metabolism and body weight control may yet uncover significant information in this field.
HubMed – depression

A systematic review of early prognostic factors for persisting pain following acute orthopedic trauma.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Pain Res Manag. 2012 Jan-Feb; 17(1): 35-44
Clay FJ, Watson WL, Newstead SV, McClure RJ

Acute orthopedic trauma contributes substantially to the global burden of disease.The present systematic review aimed to summarize the current knowledge concerning prognostic factors for the presence of persistent pain, pain severity and pain-related disability following acute orthopedic trauma involving a spectrum of pathologies to working-age adults.The Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched for level II prognostic studies published between January 1996 and October 2010. Studies that were longitudinal and reported results with multivariate analyses appropriate for prognostic studies were included. Studies that addressed two specific injury types that have been the subject of previous reviews, namely, injuries to the spinal column and amputations, were excluded.The searches yielded 992 studies; 10 studies met the inclusion criteria and were rated for methodological quality. Seventeen factors were considered in more than one cohort. There was strong evidence supporting the association of female sex, older age, high pain intensity, preinjury anxiety or depression, and fewer years of education with persistent pain outcomes. There was moderate evidence supporting the association between postinjury depression or anxiety with persistent pain, and that injury severity was not a risk factor for ongoing pain.Many individuals experience persistent pain following acute trauma. Due to the lack of studies, the use of different constructs to measure the same factor and the methodological limitations associated with many of the studies, the present review was only able to reliably identify a limited set of factors that predicted persistent pain. Recommendations for the conduct of future methodologically rigorous studies of persistent pain are provided.
HubMed – depression

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