Pain in the news

[sandee1818]

I want to start a weekly post where we can offer any news we have heard or read about pain or medications that are new or any news related to pain and the struggles we face daily.
I hope everyone will join in and contribute something each week:)
I will start.....


Smoking, Gender Affect Pain Treatment Effectiveness


SATURDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Women appear to respond better than men to chronic pain treatment, and men who smoke appear to receive even less of benefit, a new study says.

The Mayo Clinic study, to be presented Saturday at the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., involved more than 1,200 men and women admitted to a three-week outpatient pain treatment program. It aimed to restore physical functionality, and reduce or eliminate use of medications for chronic pain.

Previous studies had shown that smokers generally do not benefit as much as nonsmokers from pain management, mostly because their physical health is worse going into the program.

Study leader Dr. W. Michael Hooten, of the Mayo Clinic, said that men showing less improvement in pain management program could also be caused by work activities and/or other poorly understood societal factors.

He suggested further research should concentrate finding treatment strategies that could better help male smokers.

[sandee1818]

I know a great deal of Pt's at the pain management Dr I see smoke. I wonder if this is true in other ares also.
I have also wondered about the effect smoking has on our pain medications if any. It would seem that it does from this study and some other things I have read on the subject.
Do you think gender plays a role in pain management and its effectiveness?

[sandee1818]

Here is some interesting facts.....

-- The American Pain Foundation in 2007 found that there were more patients with pain who needed treatment than with cancer plus heart disease plus stroke plus diabetes;

-- Low back pain is the leading cause of disability for Americans under the age of 45;
-- In 2004, $2.6 billion was spent on over-the-counter pain medications and $14 billion on outpatient analgesics;

-- Two recent surveys indicate that less than two hours is spent on pain management in most medical school curriculum and that most residents come out of medical school believing that 80 percent of patients are addicts and just seeking drugs.