Pain Medicine 

About: Pain Medicine is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Chronic pain & Medicine. It has an ISSN identifier of 1526-2375. Over the lifetime, 5248 publications have been published receiving 122968 citations.

The Unequal Burden of Pain: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Pain

Abstract: CONTEXT: Pain has significant socioeconomic, health, and quality-of-life implications. Racial- and ethnic-based differences in the pain care experience have been described. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to be undertreated for pain when compared with non-Hispanic Whites. OBJECTIVES: To provide health care providers, researchers, health care policy analysts, government officials, patients, and the general public with pertinent evidence regarding differences in pain perception, assessment, and treatment for racial and ethnic minorities. Evidence is provided for racial- and ethnic-based differences in pain care across different types of pain (i.e., experimental pain, acute postoperative pain, cancer pain, chronic non-malignant pain) and settings (i.e., emergency department). Pertinent literature on patient, health care provider, and health care system factors that contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in pain treatment are provided. EVIDENCE: A selective literature review was performed by experts in pain. The experts developed abstracts with relevant citations on racial and ethnic disparities within their specific areas of expertise. Scientific evidence was given precedence over anecdotal experience. The abstracts were compiled for this manuscript. The draft manuscript was made available to the experts for comment and review prior to submission for publication. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with the Institute of Medicine's report on health care disparities, racial and ethnic disparities in pain perception, assessment, and treatment were found in all settings (i.e., postoperative, emergency room) and across all types of pain (i.e., acute, cancer, chronic nonmalignant, and experimental). The literature suggests that the sources of pain disparities among racial and ethnic minorities are complex, involving patient (e.g., patient/health care provider communication, attitudes), health care provider (e.g., decision making), and health care system (e.g., access to pain medication) factors. There is a need for improved training for health care providers and educational interventions for patients. A comprehensive pain research agenda is necessary to address pain disparities among racial and ethnic minorities.

Predicting aberrant behaviors in opioid-treated patients: preliminary validation of the Opioid Risk Tool.

Abstract: Objective. To provide clinicians with a brief screening tool to predict accurately which individuals may develop aberrant behaviors when prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Design. One hundred and eighty-five consecutive new patients treated in one pain clinic took the self-administered Opioid Risk Tool (ORT). The ORT measured the following risk factors associated in scientific literature with substance abuse: personal and family history of substance abuse; age; history of preadolescent sexual abuse; and certain psychological diseases. Patients received scores of 0–3 (low risk), 4–7 (moderate risk), or ≥ 8 (high risk), indicating the probability of their displaying opioid-related aberrant behaviors. All patients were monitored for aberrant behaviors for 12 months after their initial visits. Results. For those patients with a risk category of low, 17 out of 18 (94.4%) did not display an aberrant behavior. For those patients with a risk category of high, 40 out of 44 (90.9%) did display an aberrant behavior. The authors used the c statistic to validate the ORT, because it simultaneously assesses sensitivity and specificity. The ORT displayed excellent discrimination for both the male (c = 0.82) and the female (c = 0.85) prognostic models. Conclusion. In a preliminary study, among patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain, the ORT exhibited a high degree of sensitivity and specificity for determining which individuals are at risk for opioid-related, aberrant behaviors. Further studies in a variety of pain and nonpain settings are needed to determine the ORT's universal applicability.

Proposed new diagnostic criteria for complex regional pain syndrome.

Abstract: This topical update reports recent progress in the international effort to develop a more accurate and valid diagnostic criteria for complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The diagnostic entity of CRPS (published in the International Association for the Study of Pain's Taxonomy monograph in 1994; International Association for the Study of Pain [IASP]) was intended to be descriptive, general, and not imply etiopathology, and had the potential to lead to improved clinical communication and greater generalizability across research samples. Unfortunately, realization of this potential has been limited by the fact that these criteria were based solely on consensus and utilization of the criteria in the literature has been sporadic at best. As a consequence, the full potential benefits of the IASP criteria have not been realized. Consensus-derived criteria that are not subsequently validated may lead to over- or underdiagnosis, and will reduce the ability to provide timely and optimal treatment. Results of validation studies to date suggest that the IASP/CRPS diagnostic criteria are adequately sensitive; however, both internal and external validation research suggests that utilization of these criteria causes problems of overdiagnosis due to poor specificity. This update summarizes the latest international consensus group's action in Budapest, Hungary to approve and codify empirically validated, statistically derived revisions of the IASP criteria for CRPS.

Societal Costs of Prescription Opioid Abuse, Dependence, and Misuse in the United States

Abstract: Objectives The objective of this study was to estimate the societal costs of prescription opioid abuse, dependence, and misuse in the United States Methods Costs were grouped into three categories: health care, workplace, and criminal justice Costs were estimated by 1) quantity method, which multiplies the number of opioid abuse patients by cost per opioid abuse patient; and 2) apportionment method, which begins with overall costs of drug abuse per component and apportions the share associated with prescription opioid abuse based on relative prevalence of prescription opioid to overall drug abuse Excess health care costs per patient were based on claims data analysis of privately insured and Medicaid beneficiaries Other data/information were derived from publicly available survey and other secondary sources Results Total US societal costs of prescription opioid abuse were estimated at $557 billion in 2007 (USD in 2009) Workplace costs accounted for $256 billion (46%), health care costs accounted for $250 billion (45%), and criminal justice costs accounted for $51 billion (9%) Workplace costs were driven by lost earnings from premature death ($112 billion) and reduced compensation/lost employment ($79 billion) Health care costs consisted primarily of excess medical and prescription costs ($237 billion) Criminal justice costs were largely comprised of correctional facility ($23 billion) and police costs ($15 billion) Conclusions The costs of prescription opioid abuse represent a substantial and growing economic burden for the society The increasing prevalence of abuse suggests an even greater societal burden in the future

Pharmacological Management of Persistent Pain in Older Persons

Abstract: Drugs without a strong evidence base and outside of recommendations are too often pre- scribed for older adults. Established guidelines such as Beers criteria have identified both specific medications and certain drug classes as inappropriate for older adults, primarily due to adverse effects. Age-related physiological changes in distribution, metabolism, and elimination often alter the effects of pharmacotherapies in older adults. When designing a therapeutic program, all elements contributing to the pathophysiology of painful conditions should be considered, as well as the mechanisms of action of analgesic drug classes. Both appropriate and inappropriate medica- tions for older adults are detailed herein, as well as their contraindications and potential drug- drug or drug-disease interactions. The number needed to treat (NNT) can be useful in considering efficacy, while the safety of a pharmacotherapy is indicated by the calculated number needed to harm (NNH). The NNT is a measure describing the number of patients who require treatment for every 1 who reaches the therapeutic goal, and the NNH describes the number of participants who manifest side effects; these can further be segregated into numbers who withdraw from studies due to intol- erable side effects. These parameters, along with a patient's comorbidities and concomitant medica- tions, should be considered when selecting an analgesic and dose regimen. In addition, practitioners should avoid prescribing multiple-drug therapies that have overlapping pharmacodynamics or that may have an adverse pharmacokinetic interaction. Perspective: The pharmacotherapeutic armamentarium for treating pain has continued to grow. Both opioids and adjuvants are important options for treating persistent pain in older adults, a pop- ulation prone to individualistic differences requiring greater treatment tailoring and optimization. a 2011 by the American Pain Society