Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Chronic Neuropathic or Radicular Pain: An Interaction of Pain and Age.

A growing body of empirical research has confirmed an association between chronic pain and cognitive dysfunction. The aim of the present study was to determine whether cognitive function is affected in patients with a diagnosis of chronic neuropathic or radicular pain relative to healthy control participants matched by age, gender, and years of education. We also examined the interaction of pain with age in terms of cognitive performance.

Cognitive Coping Style and the Effectiveness of Distraction or Sensation-Focused Instructions in Chronic Pain Patients.

Aim: This study set out to investigate whether cognitive coping strategies that match participants' preferred coping style effectively reduce pain intensity and situational anxiety in a population of people with chronic pain.

Method: Chronic pain patients (N = 43) completed questionnaires on coping style, pain intensity, self-efficacy, and situational/trait anxiety. Participants were classified as Monitors (n = 16) or Blunters (n = 19) based on their Miller Behavioural Style Scale score.

Pretreatment anxiety and pain acceptance are associated with response to trigger point injection therapy for chronic myofascial pain.

Background And Aim: This study examined the psychosocial profile of patients who responded or did not respond to trigger point injection therapy for chronic myofascial pain.

Methods: Seventy one patients with a diagnosis of chronic myofascial pain of the paraspinous muscles completed a pretreatment questionnaire measuring demographic and social factors, and validated scales to assess pain intensity, pain interference (physical and emotional), and defined psychological characteristics (pain catastrophizing, pain acceptance, pain self-efficacy, mood and anxiety). Trigger point injection therapy of the affected areas of myofascial pain was performed and follow-up was conducted by telephone at one week (n = 65) and one month (n = 63) post intervention to assess treatment outcome (pain intensity and pain-related physical interference).

Experiences of chronic low back pain: a meta-ethnography of qualitative research.

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is associated with a number of costly disability-related outcomes. It has received increasing attention from qualitative researchers studying its consequences for personal, social, and health care experiences. As research questions and methods diversify, there is a growing need to integrate findings emerging from these studies.

The cost of chronic pain: an analysis of a regional pain management service in Ireland.

Objective: The objective of the study was to collect data on the direct and indirect economic cost of chronic pain among patients attending a pain management clinic in Ireland.

Setting: A tertiary pain management clinic serving a mixed urban and rural area in the West of Ireland.

Design: Data were collected from 100 patients using the Client Services Receipt Inventory and focused on direct and indirect costs of chronic pain.