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Cancer-related pain. II. Assessment with visual analogue scales
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myelinated fibers in the normal peripheral nerve of monkey. The site of coupling is near the cutaneous nociceptive receptor associated with one of the fibers. This coupling could be due to an electrical synapse and could provide the basis for the flare associated with the axon reflex. The flare is part of the axon reflex and has been thought to result from antidromic invasion of axon branches after nociceptor activation. Another possibility is that sympathetic efferents are coupled to nociceptors. This idea is of interest in view of the occasional occurrence of certain chronic pain states, such as causalgia or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which are marked by excessive sympathetic activity in the region affected.
PSYCHIATRY Chronic low-back pain and depression: an epidemiological survey. - G. Magni (Dept. of Psychiatry, Univ. of Padua School of Medicine, Padua, Italy), Acta psychiat. stand., 70 (1984) 614-617. The author evaluated the presence of depression among 64 male workers at an engineering factory suffering from chronic low-back pain (19 organic cases and 45 idiopathic cases). The frequency of depressive spectrum disorders was also assessed among their first-degree relatives. No significant differences emerged between ‘organic’ and ‘idiopathic’ cases. Cancer-related pain. II. Assessment with visual analogue scales. - T.A. Ahles, J.C. Ruckdeschel and E.B. Blanchard (Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, P.O. Box 1649, Peoria, IL 61656, U.S.A.), J. psychosom. Res., 28 (1984) 121-124. As an attempt to develop an assessment methodology which is practical for use with severely ill cancer patients, visual analogue scales (VAS) of pain, depression and anxiety were compared to standard measures of these variables in 29 outpatients and 11 inpatients suffering from cancer-related pain. Support for the validity of the VAS-Pain and VAS-Depression but not the VAS-Anxiety was found. These results demonstrate that the VAS-Pain and Vas-Depression provide a practical, valid method for assessing the sensory and affective components of cancer-related pain. The role of personality, recent life stress and arthritic severity in predicting pain. P.A. Lichtenberg, M.W. Skehan and C.H. Swensen (Psychological Services Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, U.S.A.), J. psychosom. Res., 28 (1984) 231-236. This study investigated the role of personality, life stress and osteoarthritic severity in accounting for pain in aged individuals. Previous empirical research on older adults with chronic pain is non-existent. The study included 40 subjects with an average age of 70 years. Results indicated that personality, specifically hypochondriasis of the individual, was the most powerful predictor of pain as compared with arthritic severity and life stress. Subjective pain was lower among older patients than among younger patients despite greater arthritic severity. The amount of
myelinated fibers in the normal peripheral nerve of monkey. The site of coupling is near the cutaneous nociceptive receptor associated with one of the fibers. This coupling could be due to an electrical synapse and could provide the basis for the flare associated with the axon reflex. The flare is part of the axon reflex and has been thought to result from antidromic invasion of axon branches after nociceptor activation. Another possibility is that sympathetic efferents are coupled to nociceptors. This idea is of interest in view of the occasional occurrence of certain chronic pain states, such as causalgia or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which are marked by excessive sympathetic activity in the region affected.
PSYCHIATRY Chronic low-back pain and depression: an epidemiological survey. - G. Magni (Dept. of Psychiatry, Univ. of Padua School of Medicine, Padua, Italy), Acta psychiat. stand., 70 (1984) 614-617. The author evaluated the presence of depression among 64 male workers at an engineering factory suffering from chronic low-back pain (19 organic cases and 45 idiopathic cases). The frequency of depressive spectrum disorders was also assessed among their first-degree relatives. No significant differences emerged between ‘organic’ and ‘idiopathic’ cases. Cancer-related pain. II. Assessment with visual analogue scales. - T.A. Ahles, J.C. Ruckdeschel and E.B. Blanchard (Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, P.O. Box 1649, Peoria, IL 61656, U.S.A.), J. psychosom. Res., 28 (1984) 121-124. As an attempt to develop an assessment methodology which is practical for use with severely ill cancer patients, visual analogue scales (VAS) of pain, depression and anxiety were compared to standard measures of these variables in 29 outpatients and 11 inpatients suffering from cancer-related pain. Support for the validity of the VAS-Pain and VAS-Depression but not the VAS-Anxiety was found. These results demonstrate that the VAS-Pain and Vas-Depression provide a practical, valid method for assessing the sensory and affective components of cancer-related pain. The role of personality, recent life stress and arthritic severity in predicting pain. P.A. Lichtenberg, M.W. Skehan and C.H. Swensen (Psychological Services Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, U.S.A.), J. psychosom. Res., 28 (1984) 231-236. This study investigated the role of personality, life stress and osteoarthritic severity in accounting for pain in aged individuals. Previous empirical research on older adults with chronic pain is non-existent. The study included 40 subjects with an average age of 70 years. Results indicated that personality, specifically hypochondriasis of the individual, was the most powerful predictor of pain as compared with arthritic severity and life stress. Subjective pain was lower among older patients than among younger patients despite greater arthritic severity. The amount of