Article
From the Literature: Arthritis Pain
Review the key findings from four recently published studies looking at Arthritis Pain
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic diseases (November 15)
Authors: Ashraf S, Wibberley H, Mapp P, et al.
Purpose: To describe “vascular penetration and nerve growth in human menisci, providing a potential mechanism for the genesis of pain in knee OA.”
Results: The team screened menisci that were obtained post mortem “on the basis of high or low macroscopic tibiofemoral chondropathy as a measure of the presence and degree of OA.” They selected 40 cases for the study, 20 per group, using image analysis to compare vascular and nerve densities between groups. The team concluded that “angiogenesis and associated sensory nerve growth in menisci may contribute to pain in knee OA.”
Pain and Ketoprofen: What Is its Role in Clinical Practice?
Journal: Rheumatismo (62:3; 2010)
Authors: Sarzi-Puttini P, Atzeni F, Lanata L, et al.
Purpose: To examine “the main available clinical evidence of ketoprofen in the treatment of acute and chronic pain, of both rheumatic and traumatic origin, as well as postoperative pain.”
Results: The authors concluded that “available data confirm that ketoprofen is effective and well tolerated, through different administration routes, for the treatment of various forms of rheumatic, traumatic and post-surgical pain, and may therefore be considered as a valid therapeutic option for these patients.”
Pain Sensitivity and Pain Reactivity in Osteoarthritis
Journal: Arthritis Care & Research (October 18, 2010; online ahead of print)
Authors: Lee Y, Lu B, Bathon J, et al.
Purpose: To assess “experimental pain sensitivity and compared the inflammatory response to pain in 26 OA patients and 33 age- and sex-matched controls from the general population.”
Results: “Participants underwent psychophysical pain testing to assess pain sensitivity in response to heat, cold and mechanical stimuli. Blood samples were taken at baseline and four time points after testing to determine the effect of acute pain on C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α).” The team found that OS patients “are more sensitive to experiemtnal pain at multiple body sites;” RA patients demonstrate an altered stress response, as well as “increases in serum IL-6 after mental stress associated with anticipation of surgery, and increases in CRP after mental stress.”
Pain-specific Beliefs and Pain Experience in Children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Longitudinal Study
Journal: The Journal of Rheumatology (October 15, 2010; online ahead of print)
Authors: Thastum M, Herlin T
Purpose: The authors sought to “assess longitudinal associations between pain-specific health beliefs and pain in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and to compare a selected group of patients with high pain and low disease activity (high-pain patients) with the remaining group.”
Results: The study included 47 children with JIA age 7-15 years who “completed the children’s version of the Survey of Pain Attitudes (SOPA-C) and a 3-week pain diary at study entry and in a followup study 2 years later (T2).” Based on the results, the authors concluded that “pain beliefs are influential on the longitudinal course of pain in children with JIA. Dysfunctional health beliefs in patients with high pain seem to be stable over time.”
