Increased pain catastrophizing longitudinally predicts worsened pain severity and interference in patients with chronic pain and cancer: A collaborative health outcomes information registry study (CHOIR)

Anxiety and fear of cancer recurrence as predictors of subsequent pain interference in early cancer survivorship: Exploring the moderating roles of cognitive and emotional factors

Following treatment, cancer survivors often experience pain that negatively impacts their quality of life. Although both anxiety and fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) have been shown to exacerbate pain interference, less is known about either the temporal relationship between anxiety/FCR and pain interference or modifiable cognitive/emotional factors that might moderate that relationship among cancer survivors. This longitudinal study aims to advance our understanding of the impact of both anxiety and FCR following primary cancer treatment on subsequent pain interference. We also examined potentially modifiable moderators (i.e., cancer-related illness beliefs and emotion regulation difficulties) of the relationship between anxiety/FCR and subsequent pain interference. Adults (N = 397; 67% female; Mage = 59.1 years) diagnosed with breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer completed self-report measures at baseline (average of 2.5 months following treatment completion) and at 6-month follow-up. Both greater anxiety and FCR not only predicted subsequent pain interference, but also predicted increases in pain interference over time. Additionally, complex interaction patterns were observed between anxiety and the potential moderators on pain interference. Specifically, lower Personal Control beliefs and higher Consequences beliefs were associated with greater pain interference for those with lower levels of anxiety/FCR. Emotion regulation difficulties also moderated the anxiety-pain interference link (i.e., was more strongly associated with greater pain interference at lower levels of anxiety), but not the FCR-pain link. Chronicity beliefs did not interact with anxiety or FCR in predicting pain interference. This study advances our understanding of the role of anxiety/FCR on pain interference over time as well as potential psychological treatment targets for individuals at greater risk for longer-term pain following cancer treatment.

When thinking about pain contributes to suffering: the example of pain catastrophizing

ABSTRACT

The extensive literature on the potent role negative thoughts about pain have on the experience of pain and pain-related suffering has documented associations with important neurobiological processes involved in amplifying nociceptive signals. We focus this review on pain catastrophizing (pCAT)- appraisals of pain as threatening, overwhelming, and unmanageable- and review the evidence that these thoughts are learned in childhood through experience and observation of others, particularly caretakers and parents. For children who have learned pCAT, repeated exposures to pain over time activate pCAT and likely contribute to further amplification of pain through changes in the neurobiological pain regulatory systems, which overlap with those regulating the stress response. We propose that repeated pain and stress exposures throughout childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood alter the neurobiology of pain via a repetitive positive feedback loop that increases risk for heightened pain sensitivity over time with repeated exposures. At some point, often precipitated by an acute episode of pain and possibly influenced by allostatic load, pCAT contributes to persistence of episodic or acute pain and exacerbates pain-related suffering. This developmental trajectory is not inevitable, as the impact of pCAT on pain and pain-related suffering can be influenced by various factors. We also present future directions for work in this area.

Risk of Unfavorable Trajectories of Chronic Pain Severity-Results of a Longitudinal Study in School Children

Chronic pain is a common burden among children and adolescents associated with impairments in many aspects of life. Higher pain severity increases this burden. Subsequently, it is important to identify factors predicting the course of pain severity, classified by the chronic pain grading (CPG). In a 1-year longitudinal assessment of a general school-age population (N = 2,280), we aimed to identify biopsychosocial factors associated with CPG trajectories. We focused on children and adolescents who reported chronic pain at the start of the year (N = 689). Using longitudinal latent class analysis, we identified 3 classes of CPG trajectories over 1 year: 1) the "pain recovery group" exhibited initially moderate CPG scores that rapidly and consistently declined to a pain-free level, 2) the "continuously moderate pain severity group" displayed initially high CPG levels with a mild decline over time, and 3) the "continuously low pain severity group" had initially moderate CPG levels, which only slightly declined. In comparison to the pain recovery group, the continuously moderate pain severity group presented with heightened levels of anxiety (odds ratio [OR] = 1.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.02, 1.24], P = .023), depression (OR = 1.10, 95% CI [1.01, 1.19], P = .029), and affective pain perception (OR = 1.10, 95% CI [1.02, 1.18], P = .010) and were more likely to be female (OR = 2.14, 95% CI [1.05, 4.35], P = .036). The continuously low pain severity group was predominantly female (OR = 1.65, 95% CI [1.10, 2.49], P = .016) compared to the pain recovery group. In conclusion, girls and individuals with impaired psychological well-being more often exhibit unfavorable trajectories of chronic pain severity. PERSPECTIVE: Pediatric chronic pain patients, particularly females and those exhibiting elevated anxiety or depression scores or heightened affective pain perception warrant special attention in health care. These individuals have a greater risk of an unfavorable trajectory of chronic pain severity and might need more urgent and specialized treatment.

Prehabilitation: The underutilised weapon for chronic pain management

Objective

Prehabilitation encompasses preparatory clinical intervention(s) delivered during the period between diagnosis and treatment commencement. Despite widespread successful usage preoperatively, psychological prehabilitation is neglected in outpatient chronic pain management. Although pain management waitlists are associated with treatment attrition and psychological and physical decline, this time window is underutilised in preventing escalation. Waitlists present an under-explored opportunity to 'prehabilitate' patients waiting for treatment. This topical review aimed to: (1) examine the effectiveness of psychological prehabilitation for pain services; (2) evaluate the psychological and physical decline associated with waiting for pain management; (3) highlight key psychological prehabilitative targets for increasing treatment engagement; (4) promote pain management psychological prehabilitation within personalised pain medicine, building recommendations for future interventions.

Methods

Studies regarding the impact of waitlists and prehabilitation for chronic pain were reviewed.

Results

Findings demonstrated that the psychological constructs of patient expectations, health locus of control, self-efficacy and pain catastrophizing dynamically influence attrition, treatment engagement and outcomes while waiting. These constructs are amenable to change, emphasising their potential utility within a targeted waitlist intervention.

Conclusions

Prehabilitating chronic pain patients towards treatment engagement could circumvent cycles of failed treatment seeking, preventing psychological and physical decline, and reducing healthcare utilisation. Utilising the waitlist to identify psychosocial risk factors (external health locus of control, low self-efficacy and high pain catastrophizing) would identify who requires additional support to prevent increased risk of treatment failure, enhancing personalised care before prescribed treatment is accessed. This review cements the urgent need for pain services to engage proactively with prehabilitation innovation.

The relationship between emotion regulation and pain catastrophizing in patients with chronic pain

OBJECTIVES

Pain catastrophizing (PC) is a cognitive/emotional response to and in anticipation of pain that can be maladaptive, further exacerbating pain and difficulty in emotion regulation (ER). There is a lack of research on the interplay between PC and ER and its impact on pain. Our aim was to investigate whether ER exacerbated the pain experience through PC.

METHODS

Adults with chronic non-cancer pain of >3 months' duration (n = 150) who were taking opioid medication were recruited from a large medical center in Pennsylvania. A battery of questionnaires was conducted to gather data on demographics, substance use, mental health histories, and health and pain outcomes. Measures used included the 18-Item Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. A structural equation model with latent variables was conducted to examine our aim.

RESULTS

Both pain interference and severity were significantly positively associated with several psychosocial variables, such as anxiety, depression, ER constructs, PC, and distress intolerance. The associations between subscales and pain interference were larger than the associations between subscales and pain severity. PC fully mediated the paths from ER to pain experiences.

DISCUSSION

Our results highlight the importance of several cognitive and emotional constructs: nonacceptance of negative emotions, lack of emotional awareness, magnification of the pain experience, and a sense of helplessness. Furthermore, by showing the indirect effects of PC in affecting ER and pain, we posit that ER, mediated by PC, might serve a critical role in influencing the pain experience in patients with chronic pain.

Mindfulness in Facilitating Pelvic Floor Botulinum Toxin Injection in Women with Chronic Pelvic Pain

Botulinum toxin (BoNT) injection can safely be done as an office-based procedure, but can be painful itself, especially when injecting pelvic floor muscles to treat chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Mindfulness interventions may reduce procedure-associated acute anxiety and pain. We applied mindfulness techniques to increase the tolerability of office-based pelvic floor BoNT injections in women with CPP. Women enrolled in a clinical trial of BoNT for endometriosis-associated CPP were offered a brief, guided mindfulness session before and/or after transvaginal injection. Anxiety, pain, and dysphoria were rated on a 0-10 numerical rating scale (NRS) before and after each mindfulness session. Eight women underwent mindfulness sessions. Five participants had a session before and two after the transvaginal injection. One participant had two sessions: one before and one after separate injections. All six women completing a session prior to injection had at least moderate anxiety, which lessened after the mindfulness session (median NRS change: -3.3/10). All three women reporting injection-associated pain experienced less intense pain following the post-injection session (median NRS change: -3/10). Three women experiencing dysphoria improved after the session (median NRS change: -3/10). A brief, guided mindfulness session may lessen acute pain, anxiety, and dysphoria associated with office-based transvaginal BoNT injection.

Pain intensity and self-perceived burden mediate the relationship between family functioning and pain catastrophizing in patients with neuropathic pain

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between family functioning, pain intensity, self-perceived burden, and pain catastrophizing. Moreover, we also wanted to explore the multiple mediating roles of pain intensity and self-perceived burden. From October 2022 to March 2023, 252 Chinese people with neuropathic pain completed face-to-face questionnaires to assess family functioning, pain intensity, self-perceived burden, and pain catastrophizing. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and a structural equation model. The results showed better family functioning was significantly associated with more intense pain, less self-perceived burden, and less pain catastrophizing. Mediation analysis showed that family functioning could indirectly affect pain catastrophizing through pain intensity and self-perceived burden in addition to a direct effect on pain catastrophizing. Moreover, the mediating variable of pain intensity played a masking role. These findings suggest that good family functioning can effectively reduce the self-perceived burden and pain catastrophizing in patients with neuropathic pain. However, family functioning cannot show its maximum effectiveness, and it may be necessary to construct a model of family functioning suitable for patients with neuropathic pain in the future.

Telehealth and Virtual Reality Technologies in Chronic Pain Management: A Narrative Review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This review provides medical practitioners with an overview of the present and emergent roles of telehealth and associated virtual reality (VR) applications in chronic pain (CP) management, particularly in the post-COVID-19 healthcare landscape.

RECENT FINDINGS

Accumulated evidence points to the efficacy of now well-established telehealth modalities, such as videoconferencing, short messaging service (SMS), and mobile health (mHealth) applications in complementing remote CP care. More recently, and although still in early phases of clinical implementation, a wide range of VR-based interventions have demonstrated potential for improving the asynchronous remote management of CP. Additionally, VR-associated technologies at the leading edge of science and engineering, such as VR-assisted biofeedback, haptic technology, high-definition three-dimensional (HD3D) conferencing, VR-enabled interactions in a Metaverse, and the use of wearable monitoring devices, herald a new era for remote, synchronous patient-physician interactions. These advancements hold the potential to facilitate remote physical examinations, personalized remote care, and innovative interventions such as ultra-realistic biofeedback. Despite the promise of VR-associated technologies, several limitations remain, including the paucity of robust long-term effectiveness data, heterogeneity of reported pain-related outcomes, challenges with scalability and insurance coverage, and demographic-specific barriers to patient acceptability. Future research efforts should be directed toward mitigating these limitations to facilitate the integration of telehealth-associated VR into the conventional management of CP. Despite ongoing barriers to widespread adoption, recent evidence suggests that VR-based interventions hold an increasing potential to complement and enhance the remote delivery of CP care.

Pain Catastrophizing in Cancer Patients

BACKGROUND

Pain catastrophizing is a group of negative irrational cognitions in the context of anticipated or actual pain. The aim of this study was to decipher the possible role of catastrophism on pain expression and outcomes after a comprehensive palliative care treatment.

METHODS

A consecutive sample of patients with uncontrolled pain was assessed. Demographic characteristics, symptom intensity included in the Edmonton symptom assessment system (ESAS), and opioid drugs used were recorded at admission (T0). The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) was measured for patients. Patients were also asked about their personalized symptom goal (PSG) for each symptom of ESAS. One week after a comprehensive palliative care treatment (T7), ESAS and opioid doses used were recorded again, and the number of patients who achieved their PSG (PSGR) were calculated. At the same interval (T7), Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) was calculated using patient global impression (PGI).

RESULTS

Ninety-five patients were eligible. A significant decrease in symptom intensity was reported for all ESAS items. PGI was positive for all symptoms, with higher values for pain, poor well-being, and poor sleep. Only the rumination subscale of catastrophism was significantly associated with pain at T0 (B = 0.540; p = 0.034).

CONCLUSIONS

Catastrophism was not associated with the levels of pain intensity, PSG, PSGR, and PGI for pain, except the rumination subscale that was associated with pain intensity at T0. A comprehensive palliative care management provided the relevant changes in symptom burden, undoing the pain expression associated with rumination.

The Interconnection Between Social Support and Emotional Distress Among Individuals with Chronic Pain: A Narrative Review

Chronic pain is a public health concern affecting over 100 million U.S. adults. Because chronic pain is multifactorial, it requires a biopsychosocial approach to understand how biological, psychological, and social factors contribute to both the development and maintenance of pain. On average, individuals with chronic pain report higher levels of emotional distress compared to pain-free individuals. Research has demonstrated that social support is associated with better pain outcomes and less emotional distress. It has been proposed that social support may improve pain outcomes by reducing the influence of stressors. However, the majority of research exploring the relationships between social support and pain-related outcomes has focused on the direct relationship between these variables, largely overlooking the process by which social support has a positive influence on pain. This narrative review synthesizes research on how chronic pain, emotional distress, and social support are highly interconnected, yet research investigating chronic pain and emotional distress within a social context is limited. We then highlight disparities in chronic pain, such that the burden of chronic pain is unequal between demographic groups. Next, we discuss existing evidence for the use of group-based interventions to address pain-related outcomes. Lastly, we summarize limitations of prior research studies and highlight gaps in the current literature. Overall, longitudinal research comprehensively investigating the distinct nuances in the measurement of social support and how these nuances relate to emotional distress and pain outcomes is needed and may provide insight into the unique needs of individuals or subgroups. Further, demographically diverse randomized controlled trials are needed to identify the process by which group-based interventions improve pain outcomes and whether these interventions are more effective for particular groups in order to personalize treatment approaches and address inequities in pain care.

The Contribution of Cancer-Specific Psychosocial Factors to the Pain Experience in Cancer Survivors

Palliative care teams are increasingly called up to manage chronic pain in cancer survivors. Chronic pain is common in cancer survivors and is heavily influenced by biopsychosocial factors. This study aimed to determine the relative contribution of unique cancer-specific psychosocial factors, pain catastrophizing, and multisite pain to the pain experience in 41 cancer survivors who completed curative cancer treatment. To test the research hypotheses, a series of nested linear regression models were used with likelihood ratio testing to test the individual and collective contribution of cancer-specific psychosocial factors (fear of cancer recurrence, cancer distress, cancer-related trauma), pain catastrophizing, and the number of pain sites on the pain experience. The results indicate pain catastrophizing and multisite pain explained a significant degree of variance in pain interference scores ( P < .001) and pain severity ( P = .005). Cancer-specific psychosocial factors did not significantly predict variability in pain interference ( P = .313) or pain severity ( P = .668) over and above pain catastrophizing and the number of sites of pain. In summary, pain catastrophizing and multisite pain contribute to the chronic cancer-related pain experienced by cancer survivors. Palliative care nurses are well positioned to improve chronic pain among cancer survivors by assessing and treating pain catastrophizing and multisite pain.

The combined effects of coping and pain interference on army readiness

Introduction

Chronic pain and associated interference with daily activities are common in the military and impact Force readiness. Chronic pain affects one-third of service members and is a leading cause of medical non-readiness (MNR) in the military. Research suggests that underlying psychological mechanisms related to trait coping styles and pain interference (PI) affect functional outcomes, but little research exists examining this relationship within an Army population. The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of PI and coping on U.S. Army soldier readiness by using annual well-being data from the Global Assessment Tool (GAT) and medical non-readiness (MNR) based on duty restriction records.

Methods

The sample comprised 866,379 soldiers who completed the GAT between 2014 and 2017 with no duty restrictions at the time of baseline GAT completion; subjects were observed through 2018 for duty restrictions. Parametric survival regression models with a Weibull distribution predicted demographic-adjusted hazards of MNR by dichotomized PI (no PI/PI) and beneficial/non-beneficial use of GAT coping components (good coping, bad coping, catastrophizing-flexibility, and catastrophizing-hopelessness). Incident MNR was evaluated for all duty restrictions, and stratified by selected body systems (upper extremity, lower extremity, psychiatric).

Results

Among soldiers with PI, hazards were higher in those reporting non-beneficial coping styles (bad coping, hopelessness) and lower in those reporting beneficial coping styles (good coping, flexibility). Across all coping styles, PI/coping interactions were particularly strong for catastrophizing-hopelessness and when examining MNR from psychiatric conditions.

Discussion

These findings suggest some synergistic associations between pain and coping that may impact pain-related occupational disability. Coping skills may be an effective interventional target for chronic pain reduction/prevention within military programs, such as the Master Resilience Training Course offered to soldiers in the Army. Further research should assess whether early coping style interventions can reduce pain-related outcomes.

Pragmatic Comparative Effectiveness Trials and Learning Health Systems in Pain Medicine: Opportunities and Challenges

Large randomized clinical trials or aggregates of clinical trials represent the highest levels of clinical evidence because they minimize different sources of confounding and bias. The current review provides an in-depth discussion of the challenges faced and methods we can use to overcome these obstacles to tailor novel designs of pragmatic effectiveness trials to pain medicine. The authors describe their experiences with an open-source learning health system to collect high-quality evidence and conduct pragmatic clinical trials within a busy academic pain center.