Affective Descriptors Research Articles

Abnormal brain spontaneous neural activity in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder with neuropathic pain

BackgroundNeuropathic pain is one of the most common symptoms in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Notwithstanding, its underlying mechanism remains obscure.MethodsThe amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) metric was employed to investigate spontaneous neural activity alterations via resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-MRI) data from a 3.0 T MRI scanner, in a sample of 26 patients diagnosed with NMOSD with neuropathic pain (NMOSD-WNP), 20 patients with NMOSD but without neuropathic pain (NMOSD-WoNP), and 38 healthy control (HC) subjects matched for age and sex without the comorbidity of depressive or anxious symptoms.ResultsIt was observed that patients with NMOSD-WNP displayed a significant ALFF decrease in the left amygdala and right anterior insula, relative to both patients with NMOSD-WoNP and HC subjects. Furthermore, ALFF values in the left amygdala were negatively correlated with the scores of the Douleur Neuropathique en 4 Questions and McGill Pain Questionnaire (both sensory and affective descriptors) in patients with NMOSD-WNP. Additionally, there were negative correlations between the ALFF values in the right anterior insula and the duration of pain and the number of relapses in patients with NMOSD-WNP.ConclusionThe present study characterizes spontaneous neural activity changes in brain regions associated with sensory and affective processing of pain and its modulation, which underscore the central aspects in patients with NMOSD-WNP. These findings might contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiologic basis of neuropathic pain in NMOSD.

Effect of Cryotherapy on Pain Associated with Chest Tube Removal after Thoracotomy

Context: Chest tube removal (CTR) is described as one of the worst feelings for critically ill patients after thoracotomy. Unrelieved pain causes undesired consequences that have adverse effects on patient quality of care. Analgesics usually manages CTR pain, but patients respond differently to drugs and might not provide complete relaxation. Cryotherapy is commonly applied as a non-pharmacological intervention for relieving CTR pain.
 Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of cryotherapy on pain associated with chest tube removal after thoracotomy.
 Methods: This study was conducted in the cardio-thoracic critical care units at Cardiovascular and Thoracic Academy, affiliated to Ain Sham University Hospital. A purposive sample of 140 patients undergoing thoracotomy was included in this study. They were divided into control and study group (70 patients in each group). Data were obtained using the Chamber-Price Modified Pain Rating Scale (CPPRS), Standardized Linear Scale for Pain Assessment, and Modified McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form (MPQ-SF).
 Results: The results reveal that 50%, 67.1% of the control and study group patients were in the age group 51-≥60 years. 62.9, 81.4% of the control and study group were males. Besides, there were highly statistically significant differences regarding peripheral pulse, apical pulse, and respiratory rate throughout CTR pain assessment times and a highly statistically significant difference regarding blood pressure immediately after CTR between the study and control groups. Also, statistically significant differences regarding physiological and behavioral parameters, pain intensity, and quality (sensory and affective descriptors) were found between the study and control groups immediately and 30 minutes after cryotherapy was applied after chest tube removal.
 Conclusion: Cryotherapy effectively improved hemodynamic, physiological, and behavioral parameters, relieving pain intensity and improving pain quality after chest tube removal for patients with thoracotomy. The current study recommends conducting periodic in-service educational programs for critical care nurses regarding the benefits, methods, contraindications, and side effects of cryotherapy for relieving pain associated with CTR after thoracotomy. Motivate nurses in critical care units to use cryotherapy as a non-pharmacological therapy for relieving pain associated with chest tube removal.

Intermediary roles of prospective memory and retrospective memory in the comorbidity of depression and pain

BackgroundPatients who suffer comorbidity of major depressive disorder (MDD) and chronic pain (CP) maintain a complex interplay between maladaptive prospective memory (PM) and retrospective memory (RM) with physical pain, and...

Rethinking Auditory Affective Descriptors Through Zero-Shot Emotion Recognition in Speech

Zero-shot speech emotion recognition (SER) endows machines with the ability of sensing unseen-emotional states in speech, compared with conventional SER endeavors on supervised cases. On addressing the zero-shot SER task, auditory affective descriptors (AADs) are typically employed to transfer affective knowledge from seen- to unseen-emotional states. However, it remains unknown which types of AADs can well describe emotional states in speech during the transfer. In this regard, we define and research on three types of AADs, namely, per-emotion semantic-embedding, per-emotion manually annotated, and per-sample manually annotated AADs, through zero-shot emotion recognition in speech. This leads to a systematic design including prototype- and annotation-based zero-shot SER modules, relying on the input from per-emotion and per-sample AADs, respectively. We then perform extensive experimental comparisons between human and machines’ AADs on the French emotional speech corpus CINEMO for positive-negative (PN) and within-negative (WN) tasks. The experimental results indicate that semantic-embedding prototypes from pretrained models can outperform manually annotated emotional dimensions in zero-shot SER. The results further demonstrate that it is possible for machines to understand and describe affective information in speech better than human beings, with the help of sufficient pretrained models.

Anxiety, Depression, Chronic Pain, and Quality of Life Among Older Adults in Rural China: An Observational, Cross-Sectional, Multi-Center Study

ABSTRACT Purpose To determine the incidence of anxiety and depression and examine their cross-sectionalassociations with chronic pain and quality of life among older adultsin rural China. Design Observational, multi-center, cross-sectional study. Methods A structured, self-report questionnaire was administered. Descriptive statistics analysis and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis wereperformed. Findings 244 participants (female:47.1%) filled out the questionnaires. 87 (35.7%) had symptoms of anxiety and 123 (50.4%) had symptoms of depression. The sensory pain descriptor, affective pain descriptor, physical component summary, and mental component summary significantly influenced symptoms of anxiety while affective pain descriptor, physical component summary, and mental component summary significantly influenced symptoms of depression. Conclusion Subjective pain experiences and QoL, including physical and mental domains, arestrongly related tosymptoms of anxiety and depression among older adults in rural China. Clinical Evidence Interventions that highlight subjective pain experiences and QoL may help to relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression in older adults.

Sensory Versus Affective Pain Descriptors Predicting Functional Versus Psychosocial Disability

In the lexical assessment of pain, an offshoot of the McGill Pain Questionnaire is the Pain Descriptor System (PDS) which assesses sensory, affective, and overall intensity of pain. To determine if sensory versus affective pain components might be selectively related to different aspects of disability, PDS scores were examined in relation to functional status and psychosocial impairment on the Pain Disability Questionnaire (PDQ). A sample of 629 chronic pain patients rated the degree to which each of 36 PDS words described their pain and also rated 15 items of the PDQ. Three regression models (including Group Lasso) were applied to the data. Results showed that as hypothesized, PDS sensory scores significantly predicted PDQ functional status, accounting for about 13% of the variance; PDS affective scores significantly predicted PDQ psychosocial impairment, accounting for 17% of the variance; PDS total scores significantly predicted PDQ total scores, accounting for approximately 24% of the variance. This supports the overall predictive validity of pain descriptors, while confirming more specific links between components of pain and facets of disability. Clinically, the patient's description of pain sensation may hold valuable clues to physical impairment, whereas the communication of affect/suffering is more likely to connote psychosocial difficulties in functioning. PerspectiveRegression models (including Group Lasso) were applied to data on pain and disability from 629 patients. Findings support the Pain Descriptor System in assessing pain but further suggest that sensory descriptors are predictive of physical impairment from chronic pain, whereas affective descriptors are more predictive of psychologically-related disability.

Intermittent pain in patients with chronic low back pain is associated with abnormalities in muscles and fascia.

We investigated the relationship between paravertebral muscles and perimuscular connective tissues of the thoracolumbar fascia region and the four types of pain in patients suffering from chronic low back pain. A total of 17 patients with chronic low back pain participated in this study. Ultrasound imaging method was used to measure the thickness and echogenicity of the paravertebral muscles and perimuscular connective tissues. The measurement site considered in this study was located lateral to the midpoint between L2-3 and L4-5 spines. In addition, age, gender, BMI, numerical rating scale and the short-form McGill pain questionnaire 2 (includes questions with respect to continuous pain, intermittent pain, neuropathic pain and affective descriptors) were used for assessment. Statistical analysis was performed using correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. A significant association was observed between paravertebral muscle echogenicity at L2-3 and the numerical rating scale (r = 0.499), between paravertebral muscle echogenicity at L4-5 with numerical rating scale (r = 0.538) and intermittent pain (r = 0.594), and between perimuscular connective tissue thickness at L2-3 and numerical rating scale (r = 0.762). We observed that the factor influencing perimuscular connective tissue thickness at L2-3 and L4-5 was intermittent pain (β = 0.513, β = 0.597, respectively). It was also observed that some of the imaging findings were associated with age and BMI. In conclusion, we observed that paravertebral muscle echogenicity and perimuscular connective tissue thickness in patients with chronic low back pain were associated with pain, especially intermittent pain.

Computation of Sensory-Affective Relationships Depending on Material Categories of Pictorial Stimuli

Exposure to stimuli gives rise to sensory and affective experiences. Computing the relationships between these experiences is instrumental to designing affectively appealing products and understanding human experiences. Hierarchical structures of sensory and affective responses, which can be built through adjective rating tasks, are regarded as an effective means for expressing relationships between sensory and affective responses. Naturally, these hierarchical structures depend on the type of stimulus; however, so far, their dependencies on material categories have yet to be examined. We therefore investigated how hierarchical structures of affective and sensory responses depend on seven material categories: fabric, leather, wood, paper, foliage, stone, and glass. Each material category had 100 visual representations selected from the Flickr Material Database. Thirty-nine participants were asked to rate 368 pictures across a set of materials. The questionnaire adjectives included visually- and haptically-centered items although the stimuli were purely visual. We found that the structures differed substantially among the material categories, although there were some commonalities. Particularly, the positions of polysemic or multimodal adjectives such as “light” and “uncomfortable” in the hierarchy were highly dependent on the material category. For example, “light” has both physical (lightweight) and psychological (e.g., non-solemn, cheerful) meanings. For stone and glass (generally considered to be of heavy weight), the psychological meanings were primarily considered. Conversely, the physical meanings were predominant for fabric, leather, wood, paper, and foliage, for which weight is a factor in judging quality. The present study helps interpret affective descriptors whose meanings vary among types of stimuli.

Musculoskeletal Pain Evaluation: McGill Pain Questionnaire Versus Multidimensional Pain Evaluation Scale

Abstract The first and most important step in pain management is to correctly assess it. Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire-2(SF-MPQ-2) and Multidimensional Pain Evaluation Scale (MPES) are valid and reliable tools used in clinical practice and research. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments applied for pain relief. 27 patients were included in the study, of which 12 were outpatients and 15 were inpatients. Statistical and clinical significant differences were obtained only for the inpatient group on the MPES (p=0.00, difference between means=3.07) and for 3 out of 4 domains of the SF-MPQ-2 (p=0.01, 0.01 and 0.00 and the difference between means=2.60, 2.00 and 2.20 for continuous pain, neuropathic pain and affective descriptors, respectively). Outcomes of pain management are better for inpatients due to a combination of analgesic drugs with physical medicine and rehabilitation procedures and a strict monitoring during their hospitalization.

The association between pain type, cognition and complaint after mild traumatic brain injury in prospectively studied premorbidly healthy adults admitted to hospital.

Literature examining the relationship between pain, cognition, and complaint after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has conceptualized and measured pain as a unitary construct. Pain is defined as being multidimensional, however, with both sensory and affective aspects. The current study aimed to determine whether the sensory and affective aspects of pain differentially relate to cognition and complaint. Using a prospective observational design, 6-10 weeks after injury, we assessed 60 premorbidly healthy individuals, who were admitted to hospital after an mTBI. Participants were assessed with multidimensional and unitary pain questionnaires, as well as measures of cognition, complaint, anxiety and depression. Findings showed that a univariate measure of pain did not successfully measure affective pain. Multidimensional pain assessment revealed that affective descriptors of pain were significantly and independently associated with aspects of cognitive function (p < .05). A number of sensory types of pain also significantly related to cognition (p < .05), with these relationships varying between the different sensory pain types. Continuous type sensory pain also independently predicted memory and executive function. No independent linear relationships were evident between any type of pain and level of complaint. These findings show for the first time that it is important to examine both affective and sensory aspects of pain in individuals after mTBI, as pain subtypes show differential relationships with cognition. The study also suggests that the relationship between pain and complaint is not an independent one. This study has implications for treatment and management of individuals experiencing cognitive difficulties after mTBI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Acute Pain Intensity After Collagenase Clostridium histolyticum Injection in Patients With Dupuytren Contracture

PurposeTo investigate multidimensional pain intensity and quality after collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) injection in patients with Dupuytren contracture using a pain visual analog scale (VAS) and the revised version of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ-2).MethodsThis prospective observational study was carried out from 2015 to 2017. As a primary end point, patients completed the pain VAS (range, 0 [no pain] to 100) and SF-MPQ-2 before and after CCH injection; 3, 9, and 24 hours after CCH injection; after the extension procedure; and 3 and 7 days after CCH injection. In addition, they reported the dose and duration of supplementary analgesic use during this period.ResultsA total of 41 patients were enrolled in this study (51 joints). Mean pain VAS score (mean ± SD, 34 ± 21) was maximal 9 hours after CCH injection and decreased within the following 7 days. The total score of the SF-MPQ-2 significantly increased after CCH treatment and decreased in the 7 days after the injection. Among the SF-MPQ-2 subscales, the highest and lowest scores after CCH injection were recorded for continuous pain and affected descriptors, respectively. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were most frequently self-administered during 7 days after the extension procedure compared with any other study period.ConclusionsThe pain VAS and SF-MPQ-2 revealed acute pain after CCH injection. However, all examined pain aspects dramatically improved within 7 days after injection. Pain after CCH injection is characterized by low scores in the Affective Descriptors subscale of the SF-MPQ-2.Type of study/level of evidencePrognostic Ⅳ.

Predictors of duloxetine response in patients with neuropathic cancer pain: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial-JORTC-PAL08 (DIRECT) study.

Duloxetine has some effect against cancer neuropathic pain (CNP); however, predictors of duloxetine response are unclear. This study sought to identify predictors of duloxetine response in patients with CNP. Patients (N = 70) with CNP unresponsive to or intolerant of opioid-pregabalin combination therapy, with a brief pain inventory-short form (BPI-SF) Item 5 score (average pain) ≥ 4, and with a total hospital anxiety and depression scale score < 20, were randomized to a duloxetine or a placebo group. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of duloxetine response as a secondary analysis with the change in the average pain score on day 10 from day 0 as the dependent variable, and the following five covariates; baseline (day 0) average pain score, baseline opioid dose, continuation/discontinuation of pregabalin, and items 20 and 21 score of the short-form McGill pain questionnaire 2 (SF-MPQ-2) as independent variables. Of the four domains (continuous pain, intermittent pain, neuropathic pain, and affective descriptors) score of SF-MPQ-2 on day 0, significant differences were observed in the neuropathic pain domain (p = 0.040) in change on the average pain between day 10 and day 0 in the duloxetine group. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that patients with a high score for SF-MPQ-2 Item 21 (tingling pain) on day 0 had a significantly greater change in average pain between day 10 and day 0 (p = 0.046). Patients with a high score for SF-MPQ-2 Item 21 might benefit more from duloxetine.

The sensory pain of Dante's Inferno - Semantics of chronic pain in patients with narcolepsy.

Objective To examine the semantics of chronic pain in narcolepsy and to compare with the poem Inferno, from Dante Alighieri.Methods A cross-sectional study, in which type 1 (n=33) and type 2 (n=33) patients (hypocretin-1 quantification in cerebrospinal fluid), were studied at Departamento de Psicobiologia - Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Brazil). We assessed pain descriptors in the Present Rating Index (PRI) from McGill Pain Questionnaire.Results There was no significant difference in PRI between narcolepsy groups. In both groups, the most frequent words had a sensory dimension: throbbing, jumping, and tugging. Multiple correspondence analysis revealed the predominance of sensory descriptors and the deficiency of affective descriptors in these groups.Discussion A study that interpreted the poem Inferno, from Dante Alighieri, as McGill Pain Questionnaires descriptors suggested a contribution of the sensory dimension in pain of possibly narcolepsy patients, similar as in our results.

Qualitative aspects of patient pain during surgery with wide-awake local anesthesia

PurposeStudies assessing intraoperative pain during surgery with wide-awake local anesthesia typically use a unidimensional pain scale, which provides a limited view of the pain experience. The present paper describes two studies that assessed qualitative aspects of intraoperative pain using a multidimensional pain measure. MethodsThe first study was a retrospective survey of 24 patients who received a variety of foot and ankle procedures under wide-awake local anesthesia. Patients completed a copy of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) through the mail an average of six months following surgery. The second study was a prospective assessment of 40 patients receiving forefoot procedures under the same anesthesia. Patients completed a copy of the SF-MPQ directly after the surgery. ResultsPatients in the first study selected an average of 1.17 pain descriptors (SD = 3.02) on the SF-MPQ, whereas patients in the second study selected an average of 1.90 pain descriptors (SD = 1.82). In general, both studies found that sensory descriptors of pain (e.g., sharp, shooting, tender) were more common than affective descriptors. However, mean intensity ratings were low for all descriptors. ConclusionThe results of these studies provide a more comprehensive understanding of the patient experience during surgery with wide-awake local anesthesia.

A clinical study on the pain following brachial plexus injury and its correlative factors

Objective To evaluate the characteristic and correlative factors of pain following traumatic brachial plexus injury and the impact of surgery on pain. Methods This study was a prospective, self-controlled study. Each enrolled patient was asked to respond to the revised short form McGill pain (SF-MPQ-2) and neuropathic pain symptom inventory (NPSI) questionnaire before and after surgery. Multiple factors analysis on pain was carried out and the effect of surgery on pain was evaluated. Results The total number of the study was 100 patients. Both of the SF-MPQ-2 38.33±30.38 and NPSI 15.62±14.84 scores after surgery were significantly lower than those before surgery SF-MPQ-2 50.13±36.55; NPSI 20.24±16.84. The highest score appeared in affective descriptors of the four subscales in SF-MPQ-2 and the score of paresthesia was the highest in the 5 divisions of NPSI, no matter before or after surgery. The postoperative scores of deep pain, evoked pain and paresthesia were significantly lower than the preoperative scores. Preoperative pain was related to whether nerve continuity existed or not (SF-MPQ-2: r=-0.2198, P=0.0280; NPSI: r=-0.2322, P=0.0201). The postoperative SF-MPQ-2 and NPSI scores were significantly lower than preoperative scores in motorcycle accident and weight dropping groups. The SF-MPQ-2 and NPSI scores were the highest in global brachial plexus injury group before and after operation. The SF-MPQ-2 and NPSI scores in global brachial plexus injury group or upper and middle trunks injury group after surgery were significantly lower than those before surgery. The postoperative SF-MPQ-2 and NPSI scores in nerve transfer or neurolysis group were significantly lower than preoperative scores. Conclusion In the study, according to SF-MPQ-2 and NPSI evaluation, affective descriptors and paresthesia accounted for the largest proportion in pain expression. Nerve transfer or neurolysis might have a positive effect on prognosis of neuropathic pain for traumatic brachial plexus injury. Surgery might relieve deep pain and evoked pain and paresthesia. Key words: Brachial plexus; Prospective studies; Neuropathic pain; SF-MPQ-2; NPSI

Inflammatory or Neuropathic Pain: Characteristics and Their Relationships with Disease Activity and Functional Status in Axial Spondyloarthritis Patients.

To assess inflammatory back pain (IBP) and neuropathic pain (NP) in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and explore their relationships with disease activity and functional status. Descriptive, cross-sectional study. A convenience sample of 132 patients with axSpA was recruited from a university-affiliated hospital in China. The presence of IBP or NP, pain intensity and quality, pain interference, disease activity, and functional status were assessed. Univariate analyses and binary logistic regressions were used to identify factors related to IBP or NP. Fifty patients (37.9%) had IBP, and 22 (16.7%) had NP. Scores of pain intensity and pain interference, disease activity, and functional limitation were significantly higher in patients with IBP or NP than those without either (P < 0.05). The quality of IBP or NP was mainly presented as sensory descriptors, and patients with IBP had a higher level of "tiring-exhausting" in affective descriptors (P < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between IBP and disease activity (odds ratio [OR] = 1.813, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.196-2.750). NP was related to functional limitation (OR = 1.544, 95% CI = 1.098-2.171). Though pain quality (sensory and affective pain descriptors) show differently in patients with IBP or NP, the axSpA patients with IBP or NP experience more severe pain intensity and pain interference, higher disease activity, and greater functional limitation. The presence of IBP or NP could reflect higher disease activity or greater functional limitation in patients with axSpA.

Pain and its Impact on the Functional Ability in Children Treated at the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of pain in children under treatment at the Children Cancer Centre of Lebanon at the American University of Beirut Medical Centre.Design and MethodsA cross-sectional correlational survey was used. The Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool and the Functional Disability Inventory were used to examine the characteristics of pain experienced in a consecutive sample of children treated at the CCCL and its impact on their functional abilities. ResultsThe mean age of the 62 participants was 12.3 (SD 2.9). The overall mean pain intensity rating for the sample was 5.06 (SD 1.87) on a 10 cm Word Graphic Rating Scale. More than one-half of the children in the sample (57.4%) reported having pain “sometimes” with a median duration of two hours per pain episode. The most frequently reported locations of pain were the forehead, the abdomen, and the lower back. For the most part, the children used sensory words to describe their pain experience. The children reported moderate levels of functional disability (mean FDI score 25.04, SD 13.81). Multivariable linear regression analysis identified frequency, duration, location, use of affective descriptors, and treatments as statistically significant predictors of pain intensity. ConclusionRegrettably, the findings reported attest once again to unrelieved pain in a pediatric oncology population. Practice ImplicationsPolicy makers can contribute to pain control by introducing legislation and national policies to ensure adequate pain management for children with cancer in Lebanon.

A comprehensive pain assessment tool (COMPAT) for chronic pancreatitis: Development, face validation and pilot evaluation

Background/objectivesChronic pancreatitis (CP) pain is challenging to treat. Treatment selection is hampered by there being no validated pain assessment tool that accounts for the complexity of CP pain and its underlying mechanisms.This study aims to develop a comprehensive pain assessment tool (COMPAT) specific for CP, evaluate its face validity with experts and patients and test it with a pilot cohort of patients. MethodsCOMPAT was developed from existing pain assessment tools and a literature review. Face validity was conducted by pancreatologists and CP patients using an item-content validity index for importance, relevance and clarity. Subsequent revisions were made to COMPAT. A pilot cohort of CP patients tested COMPAT. ResultsCOMPAT was developed and covered all important aspects of CP pain. Experts and CP patients reported that 70% of questions were important and relevant to CP pain. Most experts were willing to use COMPAT in clinic, ward/hospital and research settings. The most common location of pain was the epigastrium and food was the most important trigger. Pain Pattern C (constant background pain with pain attacks), had significantly higher frequency of pain attacks, higher opioid use, and affective descriptors of pain than Pattern A (pain attacks with no background pain). ConclusionsCOMPAT has high face validity and met with high acceptance. CP patients successfully self-reported their pain with COMPAT. The results reveal many differences in the CP pain within the pilot cohort, which may reflect different mechanisms of pain. A larger prospective cohort study is planned to further validate COMPAT.

Validating the factor structure and testing measurement invariance of modified Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (Ortho-SF-MPQ) for orthodontic pain assessment.

To validate the factor structure of recently modified Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (Ortho-SF-MPQ) to assess orthodontic pain; and to test its Measurement Invariance (MI) across gender. 180 orthodontic patients were enrolled in this study. 0.016 inch Super-elastic NiTi arch wire was used in 0.022″ × 0.028″ slot pre-adjusted edgewise appliance. After initial arch wire placement, pain was assessed at T1 (24 hours), T2 (day 3), and T3 (day 7) by using the Ortho-SF-MPQ which consists of seven sensory (pressure, sore, aching, tight, throbbing, pulling, miserable) and four affective (uncomfortable, strange, frustrating, annoying) descriptors. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models were fitted for analysis. Multiple-groups CFA (MG-CFA) approach was used for MI testing. Data from 172 patients (85 male, 87 female) with mean age 14.2 years (SD 1.4) was analysed. CFA model fit indices value at T1 (RMSEA 0.048; CFI 0.995; TLI 0.995), T2 (RMSEA 0.051; CFI 0.998; TLI 0.997), and T3 (RMSEA 0.040; CFI 0.998; TLI 0.998) confirmed the validity of two-factor structure of Ortho-SF-MPQ in assessing orthodontic pain. MG-CFA model based non-significant scaled chi-square difference test (Satorra-Bentler method) for weak invariance (T1: χ2 = 6.566, df = 9, p = 0.682; T2: χ2 = 14.637, df = 9, p = 0.101; T3 (χ2 = 14.248, df = 9, p = 0.114) and strong invariance (T1: χ2 = 25.874, df = 20, p = 0.170; T2: χ2 = 25.052, df = 20, p = 0.199; T3: χ2 = 18.889, df = 20, p = 0.529) confirmed MI across male and female groups. Two-factor structure (sensory and affective) of Ortho-SF-MPQ is structurally valid and invariant to measure pain in male and female orthodontic patents after initial arch wire placement.

Pain evaluation in patients under chemotherapy: application of McGill pain Questionnaire

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cancer pain is common in patients under chemotherapy and there is the need for a multiprofessional therapeutic plan, especially for nursing assistance, in the attempt to control it. This study aimed at evaluating qualitative pain characteristics of cancer patients under chemotherapy, by means of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. METHODS: This is a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study made up of 23 participants under chemotherapy with cancer pain. Data were collected by means of McGill Pain Questionnaire in a High Complexity Assistance Unit of a city of Minas Gerais. RESULTS: Most participants were females, Caucasian, with basic education, affected by more advanced breast cancer. Burning and sore were the most prevalent descriptors in sensory pain category. Among affective descriptors, tiresome and sickening were the most prevalent. Troublesome pain has prevailed as evaluative characteristic and for miscellaneous descriptors, most prevalent were radiating and nauseating. CONCLUSION: Scales to evaluate qualitative pain aspects favor nursing assistance, providing tailored assistance aimed at the complaint of each patient. Their competences allow the use of this tool aiming at increasingly qualifying its practice, thus improving quality of life of patients or, at least, decreasing their distress.