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If you’re a patient in pain, and your doctor is sleep deprived, you may be underprescribed analgesics. According to researchers publishing their findings in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), practitioner empathy is more than a small part of prescribing. Studying systematic bias...
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Pain often brings about anxiety and depression, which in turn can worsen the pain. The Journal of Neuroscience has published a paper entitled GABAergic CaMKIIα+ Amygdala Output Attenuates Pain and Modulates Emotional-motivational Behaviour via Parabrachial Inhibition. In their Significance Statement...
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A study in Scientific Reports states that “Approximately 39% of the population has at least one sign or symptom of a temporomandibular disorder (TMD), and 25% have pain related to a TMD.” In addition, “…poor sleep quality is found in 60.3% of patients with TMD.” But does the deterioration of sleep...
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More healthcare discrepancies—Black vs White and male vs female—are brought to light in a Journal of the American Heart Association Report. Researchers identified over 4100 records based on over 29 million chest pain visits by young adults. In terms of being evaluated by a physician, people of color...
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Last week, the Daily Dose highlighted health inequities in pain management after giving birth, and the different treatment of Black vs White women. What about medically underserved areas (MUAs)? A study in the Journal of Pain Research compared two areas of the United States (southern Minnesota and...
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“…patients in racial and ethnic minority groups have a 60% increased risk of experiencing severe postpartum pain and are 20% less likely to receive opioids for postpartum pain” than non-Hispanic White women. That disparity is being addressed in an article in JAMA Network Open, specifically the use...
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Everyone has an opinion. What happens when doctors' opinions differ from the patient's? A study in the journal of Clinical Ophthalmology measured, post ophthalmic surgery, the satisfaction level of the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and patient. The authors of the journal article analyzed over 280...
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Unsedated procedures involving patients who have acute or chronic illness can be painful and cause nervousness, anxiety, distress, and catastrophizing. Virtual reality (VR) has been shown to positively distract, and therefore lessen the stress involved. The Journal of Medical Internet Research repor...
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What is the link between sex hormone deficiency and rotator cuff repair? IS there a link? An article in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery says there certainly is. Via a nationwide health insurance database, researchers found about 230,000 adults (aged <65) who had torn rotator cuff surgery and...
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"Elect"ing to say "maybe?" Results have been released from a National Poll on Healthy Aging. Among adults 50 to 80 years of age who considered having elective surgery—including joint, eye, abdominal, cosmetic, foot, or leg—well over 60% said their #1 concern was pain/discomfort. The poll was...