Accuracy of Self-reported Prescribed Analgesic Medication Use: Linkage Between the Quebec Pain Registry and the Quebec Administrative Prescription Claims Databases.

Objectives: The validity of studies conducted with patient registries depends on the accuracy of the self-reported clinical data. As of now, studies about the validity of self-reported use of analgesics among chronic pain (CP) populations are scarce. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of self-reported prescribed analgesic medication use.

Is the deficit in pain inhibition in fibromyalgia influenced by sleep impairments?

It has been proposed that a deficit in inhibitory conditioned pain modulation (ICPM) underlies the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia (FM), but there is high variability in ICPM efficacy in this syndrome that remains poorly understood. Based on emerging data showing that age, anxiety, depression and sleep can modulate ICPM efficacy, the main objective of this study was to determine the clinical correlates of experimentally-induced pain perception in FM. Fifty FM patients and 39 healthy controls (HC) were tested.

Add-on treatment of quetiapine for fibromyalgia: a pilot, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 12-week trial.

Recently, second-generation antipsychotic drugs have attracted interest in the treatment of chronic pain, including fibromyalgia (FM). Preliminary uncontrolled studies have shown that quetiapine treatment may be helpful for FM patients. In this trial, we sought to examine-for the first time-the efficacy and tolerability of quetiapine as a treatment for FM and its associated psychiatric symptoms.

Reduced analgesic effect of acupuncture-like TENS but not conventional TENS in opioid-treated patients.

Unlabelled: Evidence from recent animal studies indicates that the analgesic effect of low-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is reduced in opioid-tolerant animals. The aim of the present study was to compare the analgesic effect of conventional (high frequency) and acupuncture-like (low frequency) TENS between a group of opioid-treated patients and a group of opioid-naive patients in order to determine if this cross-tolerance effect is also present in humans. Twenty-three chronic pain patients (11 who took opioids and 12 who did not) participated in the study.

Buprenorphine transdermal system in adults with chronic low back pain: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, followed by an open-label extension phase.

Background: Buprenorphine is a mixed-activity, partial mu-opioid agonist. Its lipid solubility makes it well suited for transdermal administration.

Objective: This study assessed the efficacy and safety profile of a 7-day buprenorphine transdermal system (BTDS) in adult (age >18 years) patients with moderate to severe chronic low back pain previously treated with > or =1 tablet daily of an opioid analgesic.

The efficacy and safety of pregabalin in the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with chronic lumbosacral radiculopathy.

We evaluated the efficacy of pregabalin in patients with chronic lumbosacral radiculopathy. This randomized, controlled, withdrawal trial included five phases: screening (4-18 days); run-in (4-10 days) to screen out placebo responders; single-blind (28 days) to identify pregabalin responders; double-blind to randomize responders to pregabalin or placebo (35 days); and final study medication taper (7 days). The primary endpoint was time to loss of response (LOR) during the double-blind phase (1-point increase in pain, discontinuation, or rescue-medication use).