APS Press Room
News Highlights from The Journal of Pain • March 2006
The Peer Review Journal of the American Pain Society
| For immediate release | Contact: Chuck Weber (847) 705-1802 |
PAIN ASSESSMENT IN PATIENTS WITH LOW BACK PAIN: COMPARISON OF WEEKLY RECALL AND MOMENTARY ELECTRONIC DATA
Can Palm Pilots Aid in Pain Management?
Robert N. Jamison, Stephen A Raymond, Ellen A Slawsby, Gregory J. McHugo and John C. Baird, Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychiatry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
GLENVIEW, Ill., Mar. 2, 2006 – Pain management research relies heavily on patient self reports of pain intensity. Previous studies have shown that electronic patient diaries can improve the timeliness of reporting and increase rates of therapy compliance. Their popularity suggests that electronic diaries can be useful for pain patients by capturing current pain at the moment of reporting and perhaps provide more reliable ratings than traditional recalled-pain assessments.
In this study, a team of Harvard researchers asked 21 patients with chronic low back pain to monitor their current pain at least once a day by using a hand-held personal data assistant (PDA). All were requested to monitor their pain, mood, activity, medications and side effects for up to a year. They also were called once a week and asked to recall their weekly pain on a numeric scale of 1 to 10.
Results showed there was strong agreement between weekly pain-recall reports and daily electronic pain diaries. Remembered pain ratings were not compromised by recall biases. Although pain diaries have significant benefits, the authors concluded that recalled-pain ratings are as valid as momentary electronic data for many clinical applications.
OPEN-LABEL PILOT STUDY OF TESTOSTERONE PATCH THERAPY IN MEN WITH OPIOID-INDUCED ANDROGEN DEFICIENCY
Testosterone Patch Improves Sexual Dysfunction from Opioid Pain Medications
Harry W. Daniell, Robin Lentz and Norman A, Mazer Boston University School of Medicine and University of California Davis Medical School
Men treated for chronic pain with long-term opioid therapy frequently experience depressed levels of androgen hormone, which can cause erectile dysfunction, fatigue, depression, hot flashes, anemia, and osteoporosis. Despite wide use of testosterone replacement therapy for other androgen deficiencies, there is little information in the medical literature about testosterone therapy for opioid-induced androgen deficiency.
The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of testosterone transdermal patches after 24 weeks of therapy at 5 mg/day for the first 12 weeks and 7.5 mg/day for the second half of the trial. Twenty-three men participated. Researchers evaluated hormone responses to both treatments and assessed changes in androgen deficiency symptoms.
Results showed that testosterone replacement therapy at 7.5 mg/day normalizes androgen hormone levels in men treated and improves several quality-of-life variables, such as sexual function and mood.