Prediction of psychosocial factors by pain drawing in patients with chronic back pain

Assessing Pain Research: A Narrative Review of Emerging Pain Methods, Their Technosocial Implications, and Opportunities for Multidisciplinary Approaches

Pain research traverses many disciplines and methodologies. Yet, despite our understanding and field-wide acceptance of the multifactorial essence of pain as a sensory perception, emotional experience, and biopsychosocial condition, pain scientists and practitioners often remain siloed within their domain expertise and associated techniques. The context in which the field finds itself today-with increasing reliance on digital technologies, an on-going pandemic, and continued disparities in pain care-requires new collaborations and different approaches to measuring pain. Here, we review the state-of-the-art in human pain research, summarizing emerging practices and cutting-edge techniques across multiple methods and technologies. For each, we outline foreseeable technosocial considerations, reflecting on implications for standards of care, pain management, research, and societal impact. Through overviewing alternative data sources and varied ways of measuring pain and by reflecting on the concerns, limitations, and challenges facing the field, we hope to create critical dialogues, inspire more collaborations, and foster new ideas for future pain research methods.

The Relationship between Higher Chronic Opioid Therapy Dose and Specific Personality Traits in Individuals with Chronic Pain

Objective

To evaluate the relationship between opioid use and specific personality traits among individuals with chronic pain stratified by morphine equivalent doses (MEQ).

Design

Observational cohort study. Setting. Chronic pain outpatient clinic in Canada (2017-2019). Patients. Participants were included if they (1) were at least 18 years old, (2) had been diagnosed with chronic pain (pain >3 months), and (3) were able to read and write in English. Interventions. None. Main Outcome Measures. Completion of the following outcome measures: Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, Anxiety Sensitivity Index, Brief-Coping with Problems Experience 28-item, Brief Pain Inventory Short Form, CAGE-AID substance misuse screening tool, EuroQol-5D, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item, and Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item. One-way analysis of variance compared outcomes between MEQ groups.

Results

215 individuals (64.2% female) were included with a mean age of 52.7 ± 11.7 years and time since pain onset of 14.1 ± 10.2 years (range 1-45). There were no significant differences between MEQ groups with respect to sociodemographic and clinical health variables except for gender and employment status and time since pain onset. After controlling for gender, time since pain onset, and average pain severity, patients with MEQ 90+ mg had significantly higher scores for experiential avoidance and anxiety sensitivity in addition to increased pain interference, greater depressive and anxiety symptoms, more dysfunctional coping, and poorer QoL than those with MEQ 1-89 mg or MEQ 0 mg.

Conclusions

Compared to individuals using no or lower-dose opioids to treat chronic pain, those using high-dose opioids had higher scores on two maladaptive personality traits (i.e., anxiety sensitivity and experiential avoidance) which was associated with poorer mood, greater pain interference, lower quality of life, and dysfunctional coping. These maladaptive personality traits may help to explain how individuals with chronic pain utilize higher doses of opioid analgesics.

The accuracy of pain drawing in identifying psychological distress in low back pain-systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic studies

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the accuracy of qualitative pain drawings (PDs) in identifying psychological distress in subacute and chronic low back pain (LBP) patients. [Subjects and Methods] Data were obtained from searches of PubMed, EBSCO, Scopus, PsycINFO and ISI Web of Science from their inception to July 2014. Quality assessments of bias and applicability were conducted using the Quality of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2). [Results] The summary estimates were: sensitivity=0.45 (95% CI 0.34, 0.61), specificity=0.66 (95% CI 0.53, 0.82), positive likelihood ratio=1.23 (95% CI 0.93, 1.62), negative likelihood ratio=0.84 (95% CI 0.70, 1.01), and diagnostic odds ratio=1.46 (95% CI 0.79, 2.68). The area under the curve was 78% (CI, 57 to 99%). [Conclusion] The results of this systematic review do not show broad and unqualified support for the accuracy of PDs in detecting psychological distress in subacute and chronic LBP.