The Effect of a Brief Physician-Delivered Neurobiologically Oriented, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Brief-CBT) Intervention on Chronic Pain Acceptance in Youth with Chronic Pain-A Randomized Controlled Trial.

At the Stollery Children's Chronic Pain Clinic, new referrals are assessed by an interdisciplinary team. The final part of the intake assessment typically involves an explanation and compassionate validation of the etiology of chronic pain and an invitation to the youth to attend the group outpatient Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) program, called Pain 101, or to individual outpatient CBT. It was hypothesized that a brief physician-delivered CBT (brief-CBT) intervention at first point of contact improves subsequent pain acceptance. Using a randomized double blinded methodology, 26 participants received a standard intake assessment and 26 the standard assessment plus the brief-CBT intervention. Measures were taken at three points: pre and post-intake assessment and after Pain 101 or individual CBT (or day 30 post-assessment for those attending neither). The primary outcome measure was the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire­Adolescent version (CPAQ-A). Comparing pre and post-intake measures, there was a significant (p = 0.002) increase in the CPAQ-A scores­four-fold more in the brief-CBT intervention group (p = 0.045). Anxiety (RCADS-T Score) was significantly reduced post-intake and significantly more reduced in the intervention group compared to the control group (p = 0.024). CPAQ-A scores were significantly increased (p < 0.001) (N = 28) and anxiety (RCADs-T) was significantly reduced by the end of Pain 101 (p < 0.003) (N = 29) as was fear of pain as measured by the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (p = 0.021). A physician-delivered brief-CBT intervention significantly and meaningfully increased CPAQ-A scores and reduced anxiety in youth with chronic pain. Furthermore, CBT through Pain 101 is effective at increasing acceptance, as well as reducing anxiety and fear of movement.

A prospective observational study of persistent opioid use after complex foot and ankle surgery.

PURPOSE: The incidence of persistent postsurgical opioid use (PPOU) after complex foot and ankle surgery is unknown. We aimed to determine the incidence and characteristics of PPOU in opioid-naïve, occasional, and regular opioid users at baseline and at six weeks, three months, and six months postoperatively. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study in patients undergoing complex foot and ankle surgery over an 18-month period. Daily opioid consumption was recorded at the indicated intervals. Logistic regression models were fit to predict the risk of opioid use at these intervals. The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) was used to record pain intensity and interference. Correlations were tested between opioid use and BPI interference parameters. RESULTS: Eighty-two out of 139 consecutively approached patients were included in the final analysis. Six percent (98.3% confidence interval [CI], 2 to 20) of patients who were not using opioids preoperatively at baseline were using opioids daily at three and six months after surgery. Fifty percent (98.3% CI, 26 to 73) of patients who were regular opioid users preoperatively continued to use opioids daily six months after surgery. All associations between BPI interference parameters and opioid use were estimated to be positive. CONCLUSION: The probability of using opioid analgesia six months after complex foot and ankle surgery was significantly higher in patients who used opioids preoperatively. Regular preoperative opioid use was associated with a greater risk of PPOU compared with occasional or "as required" opioid use prior to surgery.

RéSUMé: OBJECTIF: L'incidence de consommation persistante d'opioïdes après une chirurgie (CPOC) après une chirurgie complexe du pied et de la cheville est inconnue. Notre objectif était de déterminer l'incidence et les caractéristiques de la CPOC chez les utilisateurs d'opioïdes naïfs, occasionnels et réguliers avant leur opération, puis à six semaines, trois mois et six mois après l'opération. MéTHODE: Nous avons réalisé une étude observationnelle prospective sur une période de 18 mois auprès de patients bénéficiant d'une chirurgie complexe du pied et de la cheville. La consommation quotidienne d'opioïdes a été enregistrée aux intervalles indiqués. Des modèles de régression logistique ont été utilisés pour prédire le risque de consommation d'opioïdes à ces intervalles. Le Questionnaire concis de la douleur (QCD - version française du Brief Pain Inventory, BPI) a été utilisé pour enregistrer l'intensité de la douleur et son interférence. Des corrélations ont été testées entre la consommation d'opioïdes et les paramètres d'interférence du QCD. RéSULTATS: Quatre-vingt-deux des 139 patients approchés consécutivement ont été inclus dans notre analyse finale. Six pour cent (intervalle de confiance [IC] à 98,3 %, 2 à 20) des patients qui ne consommaient pas d'opioïdes avant l'opération utilisaient des opioïdes quotidiennement trois et six mois après la chirurgie. Cinquante pour cent (IC 98,3 %, 26 à 73) des patients qui étaient des consommateurs réguliers d'opioïdes avant l'opération ont continué à utiliser des opioïdes quotidiennement six mois après la chirurgie. Toutes les associations entre les paramètres d'interférence du QCD et la consommation d'opioïdes ont été estimées positives. CONCLUSION: La probabilité d'avoir recours à une analgésie opioïde six mois après une chirurgie complexe du pied et de la cheville était significativement plus élevée chez les patients qui consommaient déjà des opioïdes avant leur opération. La consommation régulière d'opioïdes avant l'opération a été associée à un risque plus élevé de CPOC par rapport à l'utilisation occasionnelle ou « au besoin ¼ d'opioïdes avant la chirurgie.

Do Pain-Related Support Preferences Moderate Relationships Between Chronic Pain Patients' Reports of Support Received and Psychosocial Functioning?

OBJECTIVE: The operant theory of chronic pain and related research suggest pain-related solicitous support promotes disability. The current study investigated the hypotheses that solicitous support is positively associated with both disability and relationship satisfaction and that these relationships are moderated by the level of desire for this type of support. METHODS: Patients with chronic pain (N = 147) and in a relationship were recruited from a multidisciplinary pain treatment center. They provided self-reports of the amount of three types of pain-related support wanted and received (i.e., solicitous, encouragement, and suppression), disability, and relationship satisfaction. RESULTS: A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that solicitous support received was not significantly associated with disability. However, a moderation effect was found regarding encouragement. Encouragement received was negatively associated with disability, and this relationship was strongest at lower levels of interest in encouragement. Solicitous support received had a large positive association with relationship satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the influence of pain-related support is more complex than suggested by the operant conditioning model of chronic pain, which emphasizes the possible detrimental impact of solicitous support. Further research is warranted regarding the potential relationship enhancing effects of solicitous support and the influence of encouragement on disability experienced by those with chronic pain.

The Effect of Social Observational Learning, Empathy and Catastrophizing in Chronic Pain Patients During Acute Pain Induction.

Objective: In this study, we were interested in determining whether we could alter a pain response in a chronic pain patient population by exposing participants to different videos prior to inducing acute pain. Design: This observational case series study required participants to report their pain level during the cold pressor task after viewing an instruction video. Setting: Recruitment and testing took place in a tertiary care multidisciplinary pain center. Subjects: Forty adults with chronic pain participated in the study and completed the cold pressor test. Methods: Prior to testing, questionnaires measuring pain, empathy, and catastrophic thinking were completed and participants were randomized to view an instructional video where an actress either demonstrated pain behavior or a stoic response during the cold pressor test. Results: Participants with higher levels of catastrophizing reported higher pain levels during the cold pressor test. Personal Distress Empathy measures of participants who viewed the pain catastrophizing video were significantly correlated with their final pain reports. Following the cold pressor task, participants' pain reports for their primary chronic pain sites were significantly reduced. Conclusions: These results support previous findings that people with chronic pain show the tendency toward increased acute pain experience if levels of catastrophizing and Personal Distress Empathy measures are higher. Participants reported attenuated chronic pain following induced pain, also in line with previous research suggesting a central endogenous inhibitory effect. Our findings shed light on the role of emotional and social components affecting the experience of pain in individuals with chronic pain.

Supporting Teens with Chronic Pain to Obtain High School Credits: Chronic Pain 35 in Alberta.

Chronic pain is a significant problem in children and teens, and adolescents with chronic pain often struggle to attend school on a regular basis. We present in this article a novel program we developed that integrates attendance at a group cognitive-behavioural chronic pain self-management program with earning high school credits. We collaborated with Alberta Education in the development of this course, Chronic Pain 35. Adolescents who choose to enroll are invited to demonstrate their scientific knowledge related to pain, understanding of and engagement with treatment homework, and demonstrate their creativity by completing a project, which demonstrates at least one concept. Integrating Chronic Pain 35 into an adolescent's academic achievements is a creative strategy that facilitates the engagement of adolescents in learning and adopting pain coping techniques. It also helps teens to advocate for themselves in the school environment and improve their parents' and teachers' understanding of adolescent chronic pain. This is one of the first successful collaborations between a pediatric health program and provincial education leaders, aimed at integrating learning and obtaining school credit for learning about and engaging in health self-management for teens. The authors hope this paper serves as an effective reference model for any future collaborating programs aimed at supporting teens with chronic pain to obtain high school credits.

A Critical Review of Neurobiological Factors Involved in the Interactions Between Chronic Pain, Depression, and Sleep Disruption.

AIMS/OBJECTIVES/BACKGROUND: A significant number of people who experience chronic pain also complain of depression and sleep problems. The comorbidities and bidirectional relationships that exist between these ailments are well recognized clinically. Further, all 3 disorders involve similar alterations in structural and functional neurobiology and share common pathophysiological mechanisms. We sought to comprehensively review the research literature regarding common neurobiological factors associated with these complex clinical disorders in order to better understand how they are related and provide further rationale for future clinical and research efforts to appropriately understand and manage them. METHODS: A comprehensive review of the existing research literature was conducted in the domains of chronic pain, depression, and sleep. RESULTS: Although the neurobiological underpinnings of these factors are complex and require further investigation, comparable changes are seen in levels of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine), proinflammatory cytokines, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and other transmitters in these disorders. CONCLUSIONS: This review is unique as it attempts to cast a broader net over the common neurobiological correlates that exist across these 3 conditions. It highlights the complexity of the interrelationships between these disorders and the importance of increasing our understanding of neurobiological factors associated with them.

A brief cognitive-behavioral intervention for sleep in individuals with chronic noncancer pain: A randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: Chronic pain has a significant negative impact on the quality of life, including sleep disruption. There is compelling evidence that cognitive-behavioral therapy can be effective in treating sleep disorders. To our knowledge, no research has been carried out on brief cognitive-behavioral educational interventions in individuals with chronic pain. This study was conducted to determine whether a brief education session that incorporates sleep hygiene and cognitive-behavioral strategies would help improve the sleep of individuals with chronic pain. RESEARCH METHOD/DESIGN: Eighty-five patients from a tertiary care Multidisciplinary Pain Centre completed all aspects of the study. This sample was randomized into 2 groups: a treatment group who received a brief cognitive-behavioral educational session, and a control group who did not. All participants completed a daily sleep diary for 28 days. Measures on sleep quality, beliefs and attitudes about sleep, pain, disability, and mood were recorded at baseline. RESULTS: No significant differences were found between groups on demographic, pain, disability, mood measures, or sleep quality at baseline. Overall, 42% of the individuals who completed this study had depression scores above the clinical cutoff. This sample reported a high level of pain-related disability. Individuals in the treatment group had significantly reduced sleep onset latency compared to controls. No significant differences between groups on the number of times waking or hours slept. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Our findings suggest that there is potential for a brief educational intervention to have a positive impact on some aspects of sleep in the chronic pain population.

A longitudinal investigation of pain-related social support preferences in a chronic pain treatment sample.

OBJECTIVES: Chronic pain patients' pain-related social support preferences have received little clinical or research attention. However, recent research utilizing the Pain Response Preference Questionnaire (PRPQ) has indicated that such preferences are related to pain-related disability. This study investigated whether pain-related social support preferences: (1) were related to disability levels, (2) predicted changes in pain and disability following a group-based treatment program, and (3) changed from pretreatment to posttreatment. METHODS: At pretreatment and posttreatment, chronic pain patients (N=45) participating in a self-management psychoeducation program completed the PRPQ and measures of pain severity and disability. RESULTS: A multiple regression analysis indicated that at pretreatment the Solicitude scale of the PRPQ was positively associated with disability, and that this association was moderated by the other 2 PRPQ scales (Activity Direction and Suppression). The PRPQ scales did not predict changes in pain or disability and there were no significant changes in the PRPQ scale scores. However, participants did not respond to the Solicitude scale in a consistent manner from pretreatment to posttreatment (51.1% decreased, 35.5% increased, and 13.3% remained the same). These changes were unrelated to changes in pain or disability. DISCUSSION: Additional research aimed at identifying the processes underlying the association between pain-related support preferences and disability is warranted. Given the potentially important role that a desire for solicitous support may play in shaping the social context of pain, understanding the unexpected changes in Solicitude scale scores found in the present study may be particularly important for improving self-management treatments for chronic pain.

A psychometric evaluation of the Pain Response Preference Questionnaire in a chronic pain patient sample.

OBJECTIVE: The Pain Response Preference Questionnaire (PRPQ) assesses preferences regarding pain-related social support. The initial factor analytic study of the PRPQ conducted with a nonclinical sample identified scales labeled Solicitude, Management, Suppression, and Encouragement. The first aim of the current study was to evaluate whether these scales would be appropriate for use with chronic pain patients. The construct validity of the emerging scales and their relations to pain-related disability were also investigated. METHODS: A large sample of chronic pain patients (N = 300) completed the PRPQ along with self-reports of personality constructs, coping styles, pain severity, and disability. RESULTS: Factor analysis supported a three-factor solution. Two factors were similar to those obtained in its initial evaluation, and were given the identical labels of Solicitude and Suppression. The remaining factor was labeled Activity Direction and was comprised primarily of items that were part of the earlier Management and Encouragement scales. Internally consistent PRPQ scales based on these factors were created. Correlation analyses involving the personality and coping measures provided support for the construct validity of these PRPQ scales. Supportive of their clinical utility, multiple regression analyses indicated that, after adjusting for pain severity, the PRPQ scales accounted for significant variance in disability ratings. CONCLUSIONS: Additional factor analytic research aimed at identifying the most appropriate set of PRPQ scales is warranted. The present findings indicate that the PRPQ scales used in the current study have strong psychometric properties and hold promise as research and clinical tools.

Symptom Burden, Medication Detriment, and Support for the Use of the 15D Health-Related Quality of Life Instrument in a Chronic Pain Clinic Population.

Chronic noncancer pain is a prevalent problem associated with poor quality of life. While symptom burden is frequently mentioned in the literature and clinical settings, this research highlights the considerable negative impact of chronic pain on the individual. The 15D, a measure of health-related quality of life (HRQOL), is a user-friendly tool with good psychometric properties. Using a modified edmonton symptom assessment scale (ESAS), we examined whether demographics, medical history, and symptom burden reports from the ESAS would be related statistically to HRQOL measured with the 15D. Symptom burden, medication detriment scores, and number of medical comorbidities were significant negative predictors of 15D scores with ESAS symptom burden being the strongest predictor. Our findings highlight the tremendous symptom burden experienced in our sample. Our data suggest that heavier prescription medication treatment for chronic pain has the potential to negatively impact HRQOL. Much remains unknown regarding how to assess and improve HRQOL in this relatively heterogeneous clinical population.

Exploring attentional disruption in fibromyalgia using the attentional blink.

Disrupted attentional function in individuals with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) has been noted in a number of previous studies. The cognitive mechanisms related to this disruption are not well-understood. This study sought to identify whether differences exist in early attentional processing and attentional capacity in individuals with FMS measuring the attentional blink (AB). Early attentional function was assessed in 16 females with FMS and compared with 16 healthy age-matched females without FMS. Simple early visual stimulus target detection accuracy was not significantly different between groups. However, as target detection difficulty increased, individuals in the FMS group showed significantly poorer performance compared to healthy participants. Our findings suggest that attentional disruption in individuals with FMS is associated with deficits in the early allocation of attentional resources during the completion of tasks with higher attentional demand.

Disruption of cognitive function in fibromyalgia syndrome.

Accumulating evidence points to significant cognitive disruption in individuals with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). This study was carried out in order to examine specific cognitive mechanisms involved in this disruption. Standardized experimental paradigms were used to examine attentional function and working memory capacity in 30 women with FMS and 30 matched controls. Cognitive function was examined using performance on these tests and between group results were analysed in the context of important psychological and behavioural measures. Performance of standardized everyday attentional tasks was impaired in the FMS group compared to controls. Working memory was also found to be impaired in this group. Stimulus interference was found to be significantly worse in the FMS group as the demands of the tasks increased. These effects were found to exist independent of the measures of mood and sleep disruption. However, when pain levels were accounted for statistically, no differences existed between groups on cognitive measures. These findings point to disrupted working memory as a specific mechanism that is disrupted in this population. The results of this study suggest that pain in FMS may play an important role in cognitive disruption. It is likely that many factors, including disrupted cognition, play a role in the reduced quality of life reported by individuals with FMS.