Alcohol Consumption in Relation to Risk and Severity of Chronic Widespread Pain : Results from a UK population-based study

Acknowledgements The study was funded by Arthritis Research UK, Chesterfield, UK (Grant award number 17292). The funder did not have any role in the design, conduct of the study, in the collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, nor in the preparation, review or approval of the manuscript. We are grateful to the following practices and their patients for participating in the study: in Aberdeen: Carden Medical Centre, Elmbank Medical Practice, Great Western Medical Practice, Garthdee Medical Group, and in East Cheshire: Readesmoor Medical Group Practice, Lawton House Surgery, Bollington Medical Centre, Park Lane Surgery. The Scottish Primary Care Research Network facilitated access to patient information at the practices in Aberdeen city. Investigators on the MUSICIAN study were: Gordon J Prescott, Paul McNamee, Philip C Hannaford (all University of Aberdeen), John McBeth, Karina Lovell, Phil Keeley, Deborah PM Symmons (all University of Manchester) and Steve Woby (Penine Acute NHS Trust). Charlie Stockton was the study manager during the setting up and for part of the conduct of the study and Chrysa Gkazinou for the remainder of the study. Elizabeth Jones was part of the study team and undertook her PhD using data from the study (unrelated to the current analysis). John Norrie was originally an investigator of the MUSICIAN study while Director of the Centre for Health Care Randomised Trials (CHART) at the University of Aberdeen. We are grateful for the input of members of the Health Services Research Unit (HSRU) at The University of Aberdeen in the conduct of the study: Alison MacDonald and Gladys McPherson. The study was conceived by GJM who also drafted the manuscript. MB undertook the data analysis and critically reviewed the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Self-Reported Facial Pain in UK Biobank Study : Prevalence and Associated Factors

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Maternal and perinatal risk factors for childhood cancer : record linkage study

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The prevalence of fibromyalgia in the general population : A comparison of the American College of Rheumatology 1990, 2010 and modified 2010 classification criteria

Copyright © 2014 American College of Rheumatology. Funded by University of Aberdeen Development TrustPeer reviewedPostprin

The epidemiology of regular opioid use and its association with mortality : Prospective cohort study of 466 486 UK biobank participants

Acknowledgments This work did not receive any external sources of funding. Data was supplied by UK Biobank under the terms of application reference number 1144. Data sharing agreement On acceptance of a manuscript using UK Biobank data, the authors are required to submit the dataset (including any derived variables) and the analysis programs to UK Biobank. Data are available to researchers by application.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

BayesGmed : An R-package for Bayesian Causal Mediation Analysis

3 figures. A missing appendix sections added and a text about prior specification added in section 4Preprin

What is the effect of alcohol consumption on the risk of chronic widespread pain? : A Mendelian randomisation study using UK Biobank

This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank resource, application no. 1144, and was funded by the University of Aberdeen. MF is funded by the EU FP7 project PainOmics (contract #602736). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declarePeer reviewedPostprin

The epidemiology of regional and widespread musculoskeletal pain in rural versus urban settings in those ≥55 years

Objectives: To examine whether the prevalence of regional and chronic widespread pain (CWP) varies with rurality and to determine the characteristics of persons in rural locations in whom pain is found to be in excess. Methods: Participants, aged ≥55 years, from participating general practices in seven different geographical locations in Scotland were sent a postal questionnaire. The 1-month prevalence of 10 regional pain conditions plus CWP was identified using body manikins. Differences in the prevalence of pain with differing rurality were examined using Chi2 test for trend. Thereafter, among the rural population, the relationships between pain and putative risk factors were examined using Poisson regression. Thus, results are described as risk ratios. Results: There was some evidence to suggest that the prevalence of CWP increased with increasing rurality, although the magnitude of this was slight. No large or significant differences were observed with any regional pain conditions. Factors associated with the reporting of CWP included poor general health, feeling downhearted most of the time and selected measures of social contact. Factors independently associated with CWP included female gender (risk ratio: 1.24; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.997–1.55), poor self-rated health (risk ratio: 3.50; 95% CI: 1.92–6.39) and low mood (risk ratio: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.07–2.20). Also, having fewer than 10 people to turn to in a crisis was associated with a decrease in the risk of CWP – risk ratio: 0.68 (95% CI: 0.50–0.93) and 0.78 (95% CI: 0.60–1.02) for those with 5–10 and <5 people, respectively. Conclusions: This study provides no evidence that the prevalence of regional musculoskeletal pain is increased in rural settings, although there is some evidence of a modest increase in CWP. Risk factors for CWP are similar to those seen in the urban setting, including markers of general health, mental health and also aspects of social contact. It may be, however, that social networks are more difficult to maintain in rural settings, and clinicians should be aware of the negative effect of perceived social isolation on pain in rural areas

Development of a clinical risk score for pain and function following total knee arthroplasty: results from the TRIO study

ObjectivesThe aim was to develop and validate a simple clinical prediction model, based on easily collected preoperative information, to identify patients at high risk of pain and functional disability 6 months after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).MethodsThis was a multicentre cohort study of patients from nine centres across the UK, who were undergoing a primary TKA for OA. Information on sociodemographic, psychosocial, clinical and quality-of-life measures were collected at recruitment. The primary outcome measure for this analysis was the Oxford knee score (OKS), measured 6 months postoperatively by postal questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression was used to develop the model. Model performance (discrimination and calibration) and internal validity were assessed, and a simple clinical risk score was developed.ResultsSeven hundred and twenty-one participants (mean age 68.3 years; 53% female) provided data for the present analysis, and 14% had a poor outcome at 6 months. Key predictors were poor clinical status, widespread body pain, high expectation of postoperative pain and lack of active coping. The developed model based on these variables demonstrated good discrimination. At the optimal cut-off, the final model had a sensitivity of 83%, specificity of 61% and positive likelihood ratio of 2.11. Excellent agreement was found between observed and predicted outcomes, and there was no evidence of overfitting in the model.ConclusionWe have developed and validated a clinical prediction model that can be used to identify patients at high risk of a poor outcome after TKA. This clinical risk score may be an aid to shared decision-making between patient and clinician